Scoreboard at stumps, day two:
England 290 & 81-3 (Gay 30*)
Pakistan 110 (Awais 46; Robinson 4-11, Archer 3-26)
England lead by 261 runs
Lord’s has seen its share of fast-bowling days. This felt like one of those that people will keep talking about whenever Jofra Archer or Ollie Robinson are mentioned in the same breath as this ground.
On a murky second day, England’s four-man pace attack tore Pakistan apart for 110 and all but locked up the series. The margin on the board – a 261-run lead with seven wickets still in hand – only tells part of the story. The real tale was the relentlessness.
Robinson and Archer squeeze the life out of Pakistan
England began with runs. They ended with menace.
Pakistan, already stripped of Imam-ul-Haq to a calf injury, walked into a trap that kept tightening. The surface eased a fraction from day one, but it still punished anyone who missed their length. England hardly did.
Archer set the tone. From the Pavilion End he thundered in at up to 95mph, averaging over 90, the kind of spell that makes batters feel the pitch has shrunk. Shan Masood was the only early casualty, which barely seemed believable given how often Azan Awais played and missed outside off stump.
If Archer was the storm, Robinson was the scalpel. Barely scraping 80mph, operating almost entirely with Jamie Smith up to the stumps, he probed away with a discipline that made leaving the ball feel as risky as playing at it. Late swing, nibble off the seam, the ball on a string. Pakistan never settled.
Behind them, Josh Tongue hit a fuller length and kept finding ways to be involved. Two more wickets, another reminder that in this series he has struck roughly every two overs. Gus Atkinson, somehow, again ended with just the one wicket across three innings, but his pace and bounce added to the suffocation. He even had Awais given out caught behind, only for technology to reprieve the left-hander as the players trudged off for a brief rain break.
When they came back, England’s attack went up a gear.
Robinson’s control turned cruel. Two lbw decisions, both overturned on review in England’s favour, removed Saud Shakeel and Muhammad Rizwan. A short ball then forced Awais into error, ending the only innings of substance in Pakistan’s reply at 46. Robinson’s figures – 4-11 – pushed his tally this summer to 19 wickets in three Tests at an average of 8.84. Those are video-game numbers.
Archer finally got the reward his spell deserved. Stumps cartwheeling, Ali Usman and Muhammad Abbas beaten for pace and length. His average at Lord’s now sits at 17; everywhere else, it is north of 30. Some bowlers just belong on certain grounds. Archer and this slope clearly understand each other.
Pakistan’s 110 looked even smaller in the context of England’s morning.
Tail wags, then top order wobbles
England had resumed on 248-9, and their last pair refused to go quietly. Atkinson and Tongue added 42 more, stretching the 10th-wicket stand to 47 and dragging the total to 290. Those runs felt like a bonus at the time. By the afternoon, they looked like a statement.
With ball in hand, England turned that total into a mountain. By the time Pakistan’s innings ended, the home side led by 180 and had all the momentum.
Then came a flicker of jeopardy.
Set to bat again, England stumbled to 13-2 in the second innings. Ben Duckett drove loosely to mid-off, a poor stroke given the match situation. Jordan Cox, who has been one of the finds of the series with two half-centuries, was pinned on the crease and lbw to Khurram Shahzad. The lead still looked imposing, but the mood shifted. A little care was needed.
Emilio Gay and Joe Root supplied it. Their stand of 47 did not race along, but it did what England required: it quietened Pakistan and reset the tempo. Gay, a left-hander under scrutiny with Jacob Bethell waiting in the wings once his knee heals, left well, picked off anything too wide and nudged his way into the 30s. It was not pretty, but it was important.
Root, as so often, appeared to have found his rhythm, only to fall in a way that is becoming uncomfortably familiar. Mohammad Ali nipped one back, trapped him in front, and the England captain reviewed in hope rather than expectation. Gone for 24, lbw to seam again.
That dismissal carried a worrying statistic. This is the ninth time in seven Tests that Root has been out lbw to a pace bowler, a stark contrast to the three such dismissals in his previous 39 matches. Whether the keeper is up to the stumps or back, bowlers are targeting his pads and finding a method that works.
Ali almost repeated the trick immediately. Harry Brook, England’s vice-captain, received an almost identical ball first up and was given out, only to survive thanks to a thin inside edge on review. Pakistan sensed an opening. The light, by then, was fading fast.
Gay’s chance, England’s window
As visibility dipped and the umpires kept checking their meters, batting turned into survival. England, 81-3 at the close, had stretched the lead to 261. Given Pakistan’s highest total of the tour so far is 171, and they have not yet lasted 50 overs in an innings, the gap already feels decisive.
Gay, 30 not out, had one scare – an edge off Abbas that fell short – but walked off unbeaten with a genuine opportunity in front of him. With Cox scoring runs, Bethell on the way back and England’s top order suddenly looking crowded, this innings may carry more weight for Gay than the scoreboard alone suggests.
The forecast for Saturday is grim, with talk of a complete washout. Even if the third day disappears, England have time on their side across the bank holiday weekend. More importantly, they have a pace attack that looks, at least in these conditions and against this opposition, like the core of a new era.
There will be tougher batting line-ups than this fragile Pakistan side. For now, though, the numbers are brutal: three innings, no score above 171, no stay at the crease beyond 50 overs. Against this England attack, they have looked outgunned.
Stokes has gone, and with him the old balance of the side. Out of that necessity, a new seam quartet has emerged. Archer frightening, Robinson forensic, Tongue and Atkinson snapping at batters with height and length. Lord’s roared for them on day two.
The only real question left is not whether England can finish the job, but how quickly this pace unit can prove it is more than just a bully of a wounded touring team.
