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Bad light finished a day that rain had already truncated, and it left England on 248 for 9 at Lord’s — nine down, one short of a Pakistan clean-up, and rescued from something far worse only by Jamie Smith’s 61 and Jordan Cox’s 55. Mohammad Abbas took 4 for 56, Mohammad Ali 3 for 67, and in the 56 overs the weather allowed, the second Test found a shape nobody had predicted after Headingley.
Pakistan won the toss under heavy cloud, bowled, and were rewarded almost immediately. Play did not begin until 12.20pm; by the 11th over England were 36 for 3, Abbas having removed Emilio Gay for 8, Ben Duckett for 17 and Joe Root for 4 in a long, unbroken morning spell of pure seam-bowling economy. Harry Brook fell for 15 to Ali, Dan Lawrence was run out for the price of a mix-up with Cox, and England were 120 for 5 with the innings drifting toward the sort of total that loses Test matches inside four days.
Abbas finds the Lord’s slope again
Abbas is 36 and has never bowled quickly, which has always been beside the point. His eight-over opening burst was the most disciplined seam bowling of the series: full enough to threaten the stumps, wide enough to invite the drive, and delivered on a length that never let Gay or Duckett settle into a scoring shot. Root, playing his 10th Test as captain since taking the job back, was squared up and gone for 4.
Ali was the ideal foil. Where Abbas held his line, Ali attacked from the other end with the ball nipping back in, and he claimed the three most valuable wickets of the afternoon and evening — Brook, Smith and Ollie Robinson, the last for a five-ball duck. Pakistan’s fielding, a running sore for two years, held up too: Salman Agha’s one-handed slip catch to remove Cox was the best piece of athleticism seen from either side all day.
This was the response Pakistan needed. They were beaten by an innings and 103 runs at Headingley inside three days, bowled out for 171 and 135, and arrived in London 1-0 down with the series and a good deal of institutional credibility on the line. They have not won a Test at Lord’s since 2018, when they took a 1-0 lead here with a nine-wicket win. On the evidence of Thursday, that record is not the foregone conclusion it looked a week ago.
Cox and Smith buy England a day
Cox, batting at No. 3 in only his third Test, made the innings of his short career: 55 from 105 balls with seven fours, his second half-century in successive Test innings, built almost entirely on leaving the ball. He added 43 with Lawrence before the run-out, then 67 in 97 balls with Smith for the sixth wicket — the partnership that turned a collapse into a contest.
Smith’s 61 from 80 mattered for different reasons. He had gone into the match short of runs, and he chose to bat against type to find them. “Once I found the middle of the bat, it was slightly different to how I usually play, which is almost at top tempo to start with,” he said afterwards — a sentence that describes England’s whole batting recalibration since Ben Stokes stepped away and Root returned to the captaincy.
The tail then did what England’s tail has increasingly done. Jofra Archer counter-attacked for 14 from 13, and Gus Atkinson was unbeaten on 34 from 27 at the close, with Josh Tongue on 1. England scored their 248 at 4.43 an over. Whatever the label on this side now, they have not slowed down.
What 248 for 9 is actually worth
Everything depends on the weather and the overhead conditions. On a first day at Lord’s with cloud cover and a delayed start, 248 is a par-plus score; on a bright Friday with the pitch flattening, it is 60 runs light. England’s calculation is that their four-seam attack of Archer, Atkinson, Tongue and Robinson — the group that dismantled Pakistan twice at Headingley — can defend it.
- England lead the series 1-0 with the third Test at Edgbaston from 9 September
- Abbas and Ali have now taken 7 of the 9 wickets to fall in this innings
- Only 56 of a scheduled 90 overs were bowled on day one
Play resumes at 10.15am on Friday with Atkinson and Tongue at the crease and Pakistan one wicket from the new ball. Two sessions will settle whether Cox and Smith saved the match or merely delayed the question.
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**Sources:** [Sky Sports day-one report](https://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/11061/13577882/england-vs-pakistan-joe-roots-side-reduced-to-248-9-in-rain-affected-first-day-of-second-test-at-lords) · [ESPNcricinfo match report](https://www.cricinfo.com/series/pakistan-tour-in-england-2026-1496563/england-vs-pakistan-2nd-test-1496583/match-report) · [ESPNcricinfo live score](https://www.cricinfo.com/series/pakistan-tour-in-england-2026-1496563/england-vs-pakistan-2nd-test-1496583/live-cricket-score) · [AP via The Telegraph](https://www.thetelegraph.com/sports/article/rain-soaked-start-at-lord-s-as-pakistan-bowls-22405760.php) · [First Test result, Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2026/08/21/england-pakistan-cricket-headingley-first-test/4ede11ec-9d4e-11f1-9cc4-2dc9b46e2d5c_story.html)
Article is 738 words. Two notes on verification: the story checks out — England were 248-9 in 56 overs at Lord’s on 27 August, with Abbas 4-56, Ali 3-67, Cox 55 and Smith 61. I left the bowler unnamed for Cox’s dismissal (only the catcher, Salman Agha, was reported) and did not attach the captaincy to Salman, since Babar Azam’s availability after his hand injury isn’t confirmed for this Test. The batting order and four-seamer attack are inferred from the fall of wickets and the Headingley XI.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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