Ollie Robinson ripped through Pakistan with a spell that will sit comfortably in Lord’s folklore, yet England still walked off in the gloom with work to do and a series to finish.
On a capricious second day when the ball ruled almost from first light to last, Robinson’s immaculate 4-11 from 13 overs shredded Pakistan for 110 and handed England control of the second Test. Control, but not quite command. By the time bad light closed in, England had stumbled, then steadied, to 81-3 in their second innings, a lead of 261 on a surface that continues to spit and seam.
This match remains alive because the pitch refuses to let anyone feel safe.
Robinson’s ruthless spell
Pakistan arrived at Lord’s already bruised by an innings-and-103-run hammering at Headingley. They left the field on Friday looking shell-shocked again.
Jofra Archer lit the fuse. Robinson detonated the innings.
Archer’s return to the Test stage had already produced a menacing 3-26, and his new-ball burst set the tone. Shan Masood, promoted to open with Imam-ul-Haq off the field due to a calf injury, lasted just long enough to misjudge a 91 mph full ball and edge to Jamie Smith. Abdullah Shafique followed in the last over before lunch, nicking Josh Tongue behind to leave Pakistan 16-2 and the mood in the away dressing room flat.
From there, every mistake felt terminal.
Azan Awais fought as if he understood that his wicket was Pakistan’s last line of resistance. Dropped on eight by Harry Brook in the slips, he dug in and scratched out a hard-earned 46, the only innings of substance in a total that never threatened respectability. Saud Shakeel’s 16 was the only other score in double figures. No one else found answers.
Babar Azam briefly looked like Babar Azam again. First ball, he drove Tongue through the covers. Then he lashed Gus Atkinson for another boundary, strokes that hinted at a captain keen to impose himself after missing the first Test with a finger injury. It lasted only a handful of deliveries. Tongue drew the edge, Jordan Cox dived at third slip, and Pakistan were 30-3, staring at a familiar script after their 171 and 135 at Headingley.
The pressure then shifted from relentless to suffocating.
Robinson, operating with cruel precision rather than raw pace, trapped Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan lbw, his length immaculate, his movement late and nagging. Archer returned to uproot Ali Usman, then finished the innings by clattering Mohammad Abbas’s off stump, a dismissal that summed up the gulf between the sides with the ball.
Pakistan’s innings ended after just 37.2 overs. Imam never made it to the crease. The scoreboard – 110 all out – told the story starkly enough.
Tailenders turn the screw
Earlier in the day, Pakistan had a chance to keep this contest on a tighter leash. They let it slip.
England resumed on 248-9, a position that still looked vulnerable despite recovery fifties from Smith and Cox after Abbas’s brilliant burst of 3-4 in 16 balls on Thursday. With Atkinson 34 not out and Tongue on one, Pakistan might reasonably have expected to mop up quickly.
They didn’t. They drifted.
Tongue glanced Mohammad Ali for four and then drilled Abbas through the covers, batting with the assurance of a man who had already banked a Test-best 30 not out by the time he was done. Atkinson, who owns a Lord’s hundred, picked up where he left off, driving Ali Usman for four when Babar finally turned to spin.
The stand for the tenth wicket grew to 47, each run eroding Pakistan’s grip. Atkinson eventually holed out to Usman, but by then England had climbed to 295, a total that looked competitive on Thursday and positively imposing by the time Pakistan’s innings imploded.
Gus Atkinson’s 45 and Tongue’s 30 not out did more than pad the score. They deepened the sense that, across this series, England have found runs and wickets from every corner, while Pakistan have leaned heavily on too few.
New-ball jitters, old head steadies
If England thought Pakistan’s collapse meant a stroll to a 2-0 series lead, the second innings disabused them of that notion quickly.
Khurram Shahzad, operating with fresh ball and fresh intent, jagged one through Ben Duckett’s attempted drive, the opener spooning a mistimed stroke to mid-off for one. Cox, so composed earlier in the match, fell lbw on review for 11, beaten by movement that mirrored the torment Pakistan’s batters had faced.
At 13-2, England were wobbling on the same tightrope.
Joe Root walked out into a familiar kind of storm. Again, he came in with the game twitching. Again, he absorbed the pressure. Alongside Emilio Gay, he pushed the ball into gaps, left with discipline, and gradually dragged the innings away from danger.
But this pitch always keeps a trick up its sleeve.
On 24, Root misread a nip-backer from Mohammad Ali and was pinned plumb in front. It was the ninth time in 12 Test innings that Root has fallen lbw, a pattern that will not have escaped future opponents. England’s captain looked stunned; Pakistan roared back to life.
Next ball, Ali thought he had Brook as well. The on-field lbw decision looked terminal until the review showed a huge inside edge. Brook survived, a slice of fortune that could yet loom large in the match narrative.
By the time the light faded and the umpires led the players off, England had reached 81-3. The lead – 261 – feels imposing. On this surface, with Robinson, Archer and Tongue licking their lips, it might already be decisive.
But this has been a bowler’s game from the first session. One more chaotic morning, one inspired counterattack, and the script could yet twist again.
