By the time Saud Shakeel miscued Josh Tongue to Harry Brook on the long-leg rope, the light at Lord’s was fading but England’s grip on this series had never looked brighter.
A 194-run victory, a 2-0 lead with one to play, and the sense of a side rediscovering its bite under Joe Root. Pakistan, set a record 389 to win at this ground, never got close. They never really looked like they believed they could.
England rolled them for 110 in the first innings, then 194 in the second. Across four innings in this series, Pakistan have yet to reach 200. That is the true measure of the gulf.
Robinson’s summer of reawakening
This match will sit in Ollie Robinson’s scrapbook as another chapter in a remarkable return. Eight wickets in the game, 4-11 in the first innings, 4-24 in the second. Match figures of 8-35 at Lord’s, the sort of numbers that echo around the Pavilion.
He is operating at a different tempo to the modern fast-bowling stereotype. No theatrics, no thunderbolts. The wicketkeeper often stands up. Yet he is relentless. He attacks stumps and pads, lives on a nagging length, and in conditions like these – heavy skies, damp ball, seam talking – he is almost unplayable.
Robinson now has 23 wickets in three Tests this summer at an average of eight. For a bowler who spent more than two years on the outside under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, and who has openly accepted some of the reasons why, the turnaround is stark.
He has also found the perfect foil in Jofra Archer. One probes, one intimidates. Archer again pushed into the high 80s mph, the standout blow an 89mph bouncer that sent Pakistan captain Babar Azam on his way in the second innings. It is an attack that looks hurriedly assembled on paper, patched together after Stokes’ retirement, but on the field it bristles with menace and variety.
Early collapse, brief resistance
Pakistan’s chase began with a number, 389, that belonged more to fantasy than to the damp reality of north London in September. Their best effort in the series to that point was 171. Survival, not victory, was the realistic aim: drag the match into a fifth day, test England’s patience, hope the weather intervened again.
Robinson shredded that plan in his third over.
Azan Awais went. Abdullah Shafique followed. At 14-3, with Imam-ul-Haq absent injured, the contest shrank in front of Pakistan’s eyes. Less than three days of cricket had been possible thanks to the weather; England were about to finish the job in four calendar days, with time to spare.
The one man who refused to go quietly was Shakeel. He played an innings that felt at odds with the chaos around him – 97 of skill, bravery and stubbornness. First he joined forces with Shan Masood in a stand of 97, the only period in the match when Pakistan looked remotely stable.
Root was forced into improvisation. Dan Lawrence tried a couple of overs of off-spin. Fields shifted, plans morphed. For a brief spell, the noise dipped and the murmur of Pakistani hope returned.
Then Root turned back to his banker.
Robinson came again, and the pressure told. Masood fell lbw on review, pinned in front. Muhammad Rizwan, looking to counter, swung across the line and was trapped leg before. Two more nails in the chase.
Tongue and Archer mopped up the tail, but not before Shakeel took his fight to another level. Targeted by a sustained bouncer plan from Tongue, he wore blows to the helmet from both Tongue and Archer, then answered with audacity: back-to-back sixes, then a rasping pull for four to move to 96.
He should have had his hundred. In Tongue’s next over, Shakeel set himself again, eyes on the landmark and the Lord’s honours board. This time the pull did not climb into the stands. It arced instead towards Brook at long leg, who held his nerve and the catch. Shakeel walked off with 97, Pakistan’s last serious resistance gone.
Tongue finished with 3-46, Archer 2-73. Pakistan finished with 194. The series finished as a contest.
Abbas shines amid the wreckage
That Pakistan’s best day of the series came on the day they lost it says plenty about their tour. In the morning, Muhammad Abbas finally took the Lord’s honours board spot that had eluded him three times before.
England resumed on 177-7, looking to stretch their lead. Abbas, 36 and still as skilful as ever, made sure they did not go far. He nipped one back to bowl Lawrence for 54, then drew an edge from Robinson behind to complete figures of 5-57. He pointed to the sky, a personal triumph in a match and series slipping away from his team.
Across the Test, Abbas claimed 9-130 (4-73 and 5-57), bending the ball both ways, constantly threatening. On another tour, in another era, those numbers might have underpinned a famous win. Here, they merely kept the margins respectable.
England’s batting, while far from flawless, kept finding enough. Jordan Cox and Lawrence again produced half-centuries in the top six, hinting they are worth the investment. Emilio Gay, by contrast, still searches for the score that will secure his place. The platform has been shared, not dominated, but it has been sufficient – because their bowlers have been ruthless.
Root’s second coming gathers pace
Root’s second spell as captain has started with a clarity that was missing at the end of his first. Two Tests, two emphatic wins, and England’s first series victory since 2024 already in the bag with a match to spare.
The attack looks fresh and hungry. Robinson has become the metronome around which everything else is built. Archer is back, bowling fast and looking dangerous. Tongue offers height and hostility. Conditions have helped – wet weather, exaggerated seam, a Lord’s surface far livelier than the sluggish pitch on which New Zealand were beaten in June – but good sides make the most of helpful days. England have done that ruthlessly.
Pakistan, by contrast, have looked lost in these conditions, just as England so often do when the ball turns in Asia. Their batting has been brittle, their decision-making tentative, their resistance fleeting. Across two Tests, the gulf has been as wide as the scoreline suggests.
All of this has played out against a turbulent backdrop. The build-up at Lord’s was overshadowed by the Brydon Carse controversy. On day one, the Pakistan Cricket Board went as far as threatening to abandon the match and the rest of the tour over a Sky interview with the sons of former captain and Prime Minister Imran Khan. For a while, the cricket felt secondary.
Once the ball started moving, though, the story returned to the middle. Robinson’s rebirth, Abbas’ craftsmanship, Shakeel’s courage, Root’s authority. England have been as good as Pakistan have been poor.
The series now moves to Edgbaston on Wednesday, 9 September. England already have the trophy. The only question left is a sharp one: can Pakistan find any answers in time to stop a 3-0 clean sweep?
