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Key events
WICKET! Saud Shakeel LBW b Robinson 16 (Pakistan 63-4)
A bowling change does the trick! Back comes Ollie Robinson, who doesn’t need a loosener. His first ball is curling in at Shakeel, who plays outside it. The ump shakes his head, deciding that it was too high, but Root reviews and HawkEye has it hitting the leg bail.
22nd over: Pakistan 63-3 (Azan Awais 26, Saud Shakeel 16) The flurry of fours continues as Awais cashes in, twice, on a bit of width from Atkinson. Time for a change, surely. If Rehan Ahmed was playing, he might be coming on now.
21st over: Pakistan 55-3 (Azan Awais 18, Saud Shakeel 16) Joe Root keeps Tongue on for a sixth successive over, perhaps feeling that he had enough of a breather at lunchtime. But it doesn’t go well as Tongue’s full length allows Shakeel to help himself to three fours – a slightly streaky square drive, a resounding cover drive, and a comfy leg glance. Tongue’s figures have gone from 4-2-5-2 to 6-2-27-2.
20th over: Pakistan 43-3 (Azan Awais 18, Saud Shakeel 4) As Atkinson continues, Awais plays another measured stroke, a nudge past gully for two – and then, out of nowhere, a loose drive that could easily cost him his wicket. No point gutsing it out for 20 overs if you then give it away.
Meanwhile, Tom van der Gucht has a thought about Atkinson’s batting. “If he can average 30, it might encourage the selectors to be a bit more bold and pick Rehan Ahmed at 6 instead of Lawrence, bringing an extra dimension to our bowling options.” That would be a more balanced side, although, on a surface like this, England may well get away with an unbalanced one.
19th over: Pakistan 41-3 (Azan Awais 16, Saud Shakeel 4) A mixed bag this time from Tongue, who produces a swinging yorker, well kept out by Awais; a half-volley, smacked for four by Shakeel; and a long hop so wild that it goes for five wides as Jamie Smith can’t get near it with his dive. Tongue’s figures are no longer superhuman, but still very good: 5-2-15-2.
18th over: Pakistan 31-3 (Azan Awais 15, Saud Shakeel 0) Atkinson keeps the pressure on and touches 89mph on the speedometer.
“Enjoying the OBO as always,” says the next email, “even if work has been so busy this morning I wasn’t able to keep up to date. Massively disagree with Ollie Major [13:32], I thought your comment on Joe Root’s huddle chat was brilliant and pretty typical OBO fare!
”I would consider suggesting ‘ill judged attempts at a joke by OBO’ as a topic for the afternoon session but probably not wise. And if you do post this, anonymous please so I don’t get in trouble at work! Thanks to you and all the team as always.”
Thanks to you too, my nameless friend. But Ollie was entitled to his opinion!
17th over: Pakistan 30-3 (Azan Awais 14, Saud Shakeel 0) Tongue’s figures are now 4-2-5-2. And he made a wayward start!
WICKET! Babar Azam c Cox b Tongue 8 (Pakistan 30-3)
Tongue is in the groove! He hits the ideal length and finds the edge of Babar’s bat, but the ball doesn’t carry. Undaunted, Tongue then draws a thicker edge that is safely pouched by Jordan Cox at third slip.
16th over: Pakistan 29-2 (Azan Awais 13, Babar Azam 8) Azan Awais quietly survived that testing hour before lunch – very quietly, inching to 8 off 44 balls. Now he goes up a gear right away, steering Atkinson’s first ball of the afternoon for four past gully. Awais adds a single and Babar plays another of his classic cover drives, which makes this, from a Pakistan point of view, much the best over of the innings.
15th over: Pakistan 20-2 (Azan Awais 8, Babar Azam 4) Josh Tongue has five balls left in this over, and Babar Azam has a bat in his hand for the first time in the series. Babar, who has never made a Test hundred in England, may feel that this would be the perfect time to rectify that. After taking a few sighters, he gets off the mark with a shot of great class, a rasping cover drive. Next ball, Tongue gets past his outside edge, so we could be in for another riveting duel.
An overdue glance at the inbox. Ollie Major is taking issue with my line from 12:07, suggesting that Joe Root might be saying “Don’t hack me off, lads.”
“I am a big fan of the OBO,” Ollie says, “but I thought this was an ill judged attempt at a joke - you’re usually better than this!
“Team culture is a desperate critical Ashes losing issue and I’m not sure making light of it is really the way to go? There has definitely been a bit an issue with the press and the ex-player cohort being out of touch with the wider mood in this situation, and I think we need to back Root in efforts to get to grips with it.
“Just because Root has a mild way of speaking ( I suspect ‘hacked off’ covers for absolutely spitting feathers) shouldn’t make it a source of humour.”
Almost anything can be a source of humour, can’t it? I wasn’t remotely meaning that team culture doesn’t matter, or that Root was wrong to say he was hacked off. On the contrary, it was the right move at the right time, and as you say his mild manner gives it extra force.
My remark was a throwaway one in the OBO tradition of trying to have some fun with a subject that is, after all, only a game. And I’m surprised to hear you say that the press and the pundits have been out of touch with the public on this. There’s been plenty of shade thrown at the shenanigans in the papers I read, as well as from Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson yesterday.
LUNCH! Pakistan 16-2, England on top
So the players troop off and it’s England who will be much the happier camp as they head for the buffet. It’s been a tale of four seamers. Tongue and Atkinson added 42 very handy runs before Archer and Robinson made an immaculate start with the ball. And not content with making his highest Test score, Tongue now has yet another wicket. Pakistan, who have lost two batters to good bowling and maybe a third to injury, simply have to win the afternoon.
WICKET! Shafique c Smith b Tongue 8 (Pakistan 16-2)
Another one! There’s a hold-up as this full delivery yields an edge that could be a bump ball, but the third umpire confirms it and Shafique has to go.
14th over: Pakistan 16-1 (Azan Awais 8, Abdullah Shafique 5) Atkinson continues and Awais is dropped! By Harry Brook at second slip. It went low to his right – a tough chance but one Brook would take more often than not.
13th over: Pakistan 16-1 (Azan Awais 8, Abdullah Shafique 5) Another maiden from Tongue, and he’s warming to the task, beating Shafique twice outside off.
12th over: Pakistan 16-1 (Azan Awais 8, Abdullah Shafique 5) Another change as Root resists the temptation to over-bowl Archer and sends for Gus Atkinson. Not as quick but just as tall, he soon reckons he’s got Awais caught behind off the shoulder of the bat. But Awais reviews and he’s right – the replay shows the ball coming off the shoulder of the man. There’s then a single to each batter, something Pakistan could do with more of.
Lunch, by the way, is at 1.15pm. We’re having an extra half-hour in the day to catch up on some of the overs lost to rain yesterday.
11th over: Pakistan 14-1 (Azan Awais 7, Abdullah Shafique 4) Joe Root makes his first bowling change, taking Robinson off and bringing on Josh Tongue. His batting lit up Lord’s this morning but now that he’s an all-rounder, his bowling is tailing off. He goes too wide of Shafique’s off stump and is lucky to get away with a maiden.
An email came in earlier from Rob Smyth, who will be with you later. “Nice stat on TMS from Andy Zaltzman,” he said. “The last time England had four bowlers with 50+ Test wickets at an average below 29 was December 1981 in Delhi: Botham, Willis, Lever and Underwood. They didn’t say when they last had four seamers, though I suppose some people would classify Underwood as LM.” Ha.
“I assume Flintoff was the reason they didn’t do this in 2005 as his average took an age to come down.”
Rob’s memory for these things is usually spot-on, but when that great series began, only Steve Harmison had an average under 29 (27.95, in fact). Matthew Hoggard was on 29.63, Simon Jones 31.41 and Flintoff 33.32. If the Aussies looked at those averages, they would have had no idea what was about to hit them.
10th over: Pakistan 14-1 (Azan Awais 7, Abdullah Shafique 4) Archer, still steaming in and touching 93mph, is still asking all the right questions, but Awais again manages to keep him out. Archer has 5-1-8-1, Robinson 5-2-6-0.
9th over: Pakistan 14-1 (Azan Awais 7, Abdullah Shafique 4) Robinson keeps Shafique quiet with his old-school line and length. “He’s doing a good job,” Broad says. “He could easily get carried away with what Jofra’s doing at the other end, but he’s just doing his own thing.”
8th over: Pakistan 14-1 (Azan Awais 7, Abdullah Shafique 4) Archer is on fire! Bowling to Awais, he goes up from 92mph to 94 with another snorter, then produces a super-snorter which has Awais jumping like a frog, Jamie Smith taking the ball well above his head, and Joe Root bursting out laughing. Awais, to his great credit, square-drives the next ball for four, but Archer retorts by beating the outside the edge. A great little duel for the crowd to enjoy.
7th over: Pakistan 10-1 (Azan Awais 3, Abdullah Shafique 4) Robinson isn’t fast, of course, but that makes him and Archer a potent pair: it’s as if the batters are taking two different exams at the same time. Bowling to the right-handed Shafique, with Jamie Smith standing up to the stumps, Robinson beats the bat with some late movement.
6th over: Pakistan 10-1 (Azan Awais 3, Abdullah Shafique 4) Archer is looking as good as he did at Lord’s in 2019. This over is fast and accurate and the batters do well just to get through it.
5th over: Pakistan 9-1 (Azan Awais 3, Abdullah Shafique 3) Better from the batters as they get busy, make use of the many gaps and pick up three singles off Robinson.
4th over: Pakistan 6-1 (Azan Awais 1, Abdullah Shafique 1) So Pakistan are in trouble already – and Archer could have two in two as he greets Shafique with a snorter. Shafique manages to fend it off, but it would have been a simple catch for the short leg England had (for Robinson) at the start of the innings. And it could even have brought a run-out as Azan Awais called Shafique for a single, which he was too dazed to take at more than an amble.
WICKET! Shan Masood c Smith b Archer 1 (Pakistan 5-1)
Here we go! Jofra Archer produces a gorgeous delivery that swings away late to take the edge, and that is the end of Masood’s shift as a makeshift opener.
3rd over: Pakistan 4-0 (Shan Masood 1, Azan Awais 1) The first run off the bat comes as Masood tucks Robinson for a single. Bowling to Azan Awais for the first time, Robinson goes round the wicket and instantly has an appeal for LBW – the very way he dismissed Awais with the first ball of the series. Chris Gaffney shakes his head, clearly deciding the ball struck the pad outside the line of off stump. Joe Root reviews, rashly, as Gaffney is soon proved right. Root, the most experienced captain in England’s history, is perplexingly bad at reviews.
2nd over: Pakistan 2-0 (Shan Masood 0, Azan Awais 0) Jofra Archer, bowling to Azan Awais, duplicates Robinson’s start – all dots apart from a no-ball. The difference is that Archer, with his extra pace, finds some bounce. Maybe the pitch isn’t quite as slow as the Pakistan bowlers made it look.
1st over: Pakistan 1-0 (Shan Masood 0, Azan Awais 0) The new ball is in the hands of Ollie Robinson, who was so lethal here against New Zealand in June. He starts by going round the wicket to the left-handed Masood, with a short leg. But only for two balls as that plan is mysteriously shelved, Robinson goes over the wicket and short leg disappears. Either way, the deliveries end up as dots – until Robinson bowls a no-ball. His seventh ball is a good one, curling back into Masood, who survives by getting an inside edge into the pad.
Joe Root gathers his troops in a huddle. What’s he saying, I wonder. “Don’t hack me off, lads”?
As the England bowlers limber up in front of the pavilion, Pakistan have an injury to deal with. Imam-ul-Haq is having treatment for a calf strain, so Shan Masood will move up to open (which he’s well used to). Here’s hoping Imam is able to play some part down the order.
So, on what Stuart Broad saw as a 250 pitch, England have 290. After subsiding to 77-4, they could easily have been 180 all out, but Jordan Cox made a gritty 55, Jamie Smith returned to form with a fluent 61, Gus Atkinson made a Bazballish 45 and Josh Tongue, not content with his first 20 for England, motored on to the dizzy heights of 30. The upshot is that Pakistan, who need a first-innings lead, will have to work hard to avoid a deficit.
WICKET! Atkinson c Mohammad Ali b Ali Usman 45 (England 290 all out)
Here is plan B and it works right away. Ali Usman comes on with his flighted left-arm spin and Atkinson, after helping himself to a lofted drive for four, falls to a top edge.
66th over: England 285-9 (Atkinson 41, Tongue 29) As Abbas continues, Tongue goes back to his trusty outside edge and reaches another milestone: 100 runs in Tests. He’s now so confident that he hits a four in front of the wicket – a cover drive, not quite classical but definitely middled.
For Pakistan, plan A hasn’t worked (though it easily could have, with those early edges). Does Babar Azam have a plan B?
Josh Tongue makes his first 20!
65th over: England 278-9 (Atkinson 40, Tongue 23) Tongue, facing Mohammad Ali, has a near-miss as the nip-backer almost takes out his stumps, but the next ball is a freebie on his pads and he clips it for a single. That takes him to 20 for the first time in his three years as a Test cricketer. He celebrates not with a wave of the bat, but with a chip for three to midwicket. His average has now soared to 6.60.
64th over: England 272-9 (Atkinson 39, Tongue 19) Abbas, bowling to Atkinson, tries a bouncer too, followed by a yorker. Atkinson misses with a pull but manages to jab down on the next ball as it homes in on his big toe. Then he hits a straight thump, straight at Abbas, who saves three runs by taking a blow on the thigh. Tongue takes a single to equal his Test best – also made at Lord’s, on his debut against Australia in 2023.
63rd over: England 270-9 (Atkinson 38, Tongue 18) Josh Tongue, facing Mohammad Ali, is smiling again – and then playing a nice leg glance for four. When Ali resorts to a bouncer, he has no trouble swaying out of the way. He makes a great No 11.
The cameras find Gary Lineker in one of the boxes. He’s wearing a suit and tie, and he too has a smile on his face.
62nd over: England 266-9 (Atkinson 38, Tongue 14) Scrap that: Atkinson takes a leg-bye off the second ball of this over. As Tongue prepares to face Abbas, the keeper, Mohammad Rizwan, calls for a helmet and goes up to the stumps – so Josh Tongue is now being treated like Joe Root. The ploy could backfire by making Tongue’s nicks harder for the slips to pick up. And it doesn’t seem to bother Tongue, who plays an uppish flick for a single to steal the strike.
61st over: England 264-9 (Atkinson 38, Tongue 13) Ali bowls to Atkinson, who promptly steps away to leg, dreaming of a six over backward point, but connects only with thin air. The over ends in a flurry of singles – one to each batter and then a tight one to Atkinson, who may have decided that he needs to protect Tongue from Abbas.
60th over: England 261-9 (Atkinson 36, Tongue 12) Now Tongue has a whole over to face, and it’s from Abbas. Five-for time, surely? Not yet, as Tongue plays straight and even spots a slower ball. An even slower ball, with a wobble seam, which leaves a smile on both of their faces. When he reverts to normal speed, Abbas does find the edge, but Tongue gets away with it again and picks up two. This is now his second-highest Test score.
59th over: England 259-9 (Atkinson 36, Tongue 10) Atkinson, facing Mohammad Ali, sees a short ball, goes for the pull and again takes the single off the first ball. Tongue plays and misses – and, as Mike Atherton notes, looks quite pleased about it, seeing that the pitch is still offering movement. A single off a thick inside edge takes him into double figures for the third time in his 14 Tests. He should really raise his bat.
Meanwhile there’s an email that gets off to a punchy start. “There are times I wouldn’t trust the ECB to sit the right way round on a lavatory,” says Martin Sinclair, “but credit where it is due, they did well in appointing Sarah Taylor. They didn’t make a big deal of it, just brought a woman into what was previously an exclusively male environment, and let her get on with the job. While probably not as significant as women being granted the vote, in its own way, it definitely represents quiet progress.” Yes – and not before time, as there have been male coaches in the women’s game for ages.
58th over: England 257-9 (Atkinson 35, Tongue 9) Gus Atkinson, who loves playing at Lord’s, would be entitled to turn down a single, but he takes one off Abbas’s first ball. Tongue responds to this show of faith with an extravagant waft that would be curtains if Babar Azam had posted a third slip. Abbas then raps Tongue on the pad, goes up for LBW and even persuades Babar to review, but it’s going down.
57th over: England 252-9 (Atkinson 34, Tongue 5) Josh Tongue, who has a Test batting average of 5, makes sure he’ll maintain it by steering Mohammad Ali wide of the slips and down the slope to the Tavern boundary. Otherwise it’s all dots and Ali has done the right thing by giving Mohammad Abbas the chance to get on the honours board.
The players are out there and Mohammad Ali is going to bowl from the Nursery End. I hope he’s got the memo….
On Sky, Ian Ward has just done a quick interview with England’s assistant coach, Sarah Taylor. Asked about being the first woman among the England coaches, she reveals a nice detail. “The players just call me Coach,” she says, “which is how it should be.”
As we had a shortened day yesterday, this is going to be a longer one. Play still starts at 11, but the intervals are a bit later than usual – lunch at 1.15pm and tea at 4.10 – and the close may not be until 7pm. In theory, there will be 98 overs in the day; in practice, this is England and they haven’t picked a specialist spinner, so their over rate may well be abysmal as usual.
Preamble
Morning everyone and welcome to something that looks suspiciously like a proper contest. After falling flat in Leeds, Pakistan came to Lord’s and stood tall. They won the toss and bowled well from both ends as Mohammad Ali enrolled in the Mohammad Abbas school of exacting accuracy. The fielding was patchy but good enough to restrict England to 248-9 on a surface that Stuart Broad had described as “probably a 250 pitch”.
Today, Pakistan have two jobs. They need to take the last wicket: in an ideal world, Ali will tactfully leave that to Abbas, so he can take his rightful place on the honours board after collecting two four-wicket hauls here in 2018. And then the batters, led by Babar Azam, have to knuckle down and make their way to a first-innings lead of about 100.
They don’t have the wind in their sails after Headingley, but they should have the weather on their side. Apart from a shower or two in mid-afternoon, the forecast is mostly sunshine. If you’re there, or even if you’re not, do say hello.
