Mohammed Asif (left) celebrates with Younis Khan after dismissing Matthew Hoggard on the first day of the fourth Test at The Oval on Thursday. (AP)

London: Pakistani pacemen Mohammed Asif and Umar Gul blasted away England’s first innings on the first day of the fourth Test on Thursday, dismissing the home team for a meagre 173 at The Oval.

Asif tore through England’s vaunted batting line-up with impressive figures of four wickets for 56 from 19 overs and fellow paceman Umar Gul cleaned up with four for 47 from his 15.2 overs.

Alastair Cook top scored with 40, captain Andrew Strauss hit 38 and wicketkeeper Chris Read hit an attractive 33 on a lively wicket that offered assistance to Pakistan’s bowlers, especially early in the day under murky light.

England have already won the series 2-0 and Pakistan were a transformed team, fielding sharply and enjoying the return of Asif, who missed the first three matches of the series with an elbow injury.

The first session of the day was restricted to less than an hour because of rain and England went in to an early lunch on 27 for none.

Asif transformed the innings in the second session. Asif, playing his first game of the four-Test series following elbow trouble, removed England captain Strauss and Kevin Pietersen with successive deliveries as part of an 11-ball burst which earned him three wickets for four runs.

The willowy, 23-year-old right-armer, blessed with a high, lazy action, accounted for Strauss with a perfect leg-cutter, wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal completing the dismissal with a smart catch heading for first slip. Strauss, who had looked in fine touch, made 38.

Pietersen went in similar fashion but for a golden duck, shaving a catch behind off a loose drive, and Paul Collingwood was then trapped lbw for five to make it 64 for four.

Asif, who was rushed back into the team in place of the ineffective Mohammad Sami, repaid the faith of not only his selectors but also his captain. Sides usually bat first at The Oval but Inzamam-ul-Haq, desperate for a face-saving victory, gave Asif and the rest of his bowlers the chance to exploit some murky, damp conditions.

Rain interrupted the game almost immediately — Asif managed two deliveries at Marcus Trescothick before the players returned to the pavilion — and cut the morning down to eight overs as England advanced to 27 without loss before an early lunch was called.

Umar Gul, the one Pakistan fast bowler to distinguish himself in the previous three tests, started the rot by sending back Trescothick for six.

The left-handed opener, desperately short of form, tried to break the shackles after a series of dabbed singles only to thick-edge low to gully. Trescothick has managed only one half-century, and that a fortuitous one, in the series.

Strauss, in contrast, had looked perfectly at home, driving and pulling his way to seven boundaries before Asif got to work.

Pakistan’s perfect second session was completed by leg spinner Danish Kaneria and seamer Shahid Nazir.

Kaneria removed Ian Bell, caught off bat and pad from a delivery which drifted into the right-hander's pads. Seeking his fourth century in four matches, Bell fell 91 short.

Cook, who had survived Asif’s hattrick ball, gave some stability to the innings with a series of attractive back-foot shots but, after cracking Nazir for four through cover, he went leg before for 40 to a yorker angled in at his off stump.

That made it 112 for six and it should have been seven down shortly afterwards when Akmal missed stumping Mahmood off Kaneria's bowling.

Pakistan had gone into the series without injured strike bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan as well as Asif. All looked to be in contention for a return at The Oval despite their lack of match fitness but in the end the selectors limited themselves to one gamble. It paid off handsomely.