England faces Pakistan in second men's Test at Lord's, day one coverage

Updates from day four at Lord’s; play starts 11am BST Day three report | Sign up for The Spin | Mail Tom Morning everyone. And after a day savoured by my parched lawn much more than those who’d paid top dollar for Lord’s tickets, England remain primed, accompanied by a slightly better weather forecast than yesterday’s, to wrap up that first Test series win for 20 months against a bedraggled Pakistan. Let’s face it, they’ve got enough runs in the bank already, leading by 357, and Joe Root will have been pondering an overnight declaration. All will be revealed shortly. If the England captain does call his batters in, that will be a slight shame for Dan Lawrence, who batted with great authority yesterday in difficult conditions to reach his second half-century of the series, another Bazball discard reasserting himself in the new era. (And the only England cricketer as far as I know to have gone to the same school as me – some years apart I hasten to add.) Continue reading...

Updates from rain-hit day three at Lord’s Day two report | Sign up for the Spin | Mail James Why does it always rain on me? Is it because England have Pakistan 81-3? I’m afraid it is going to be a severely rain affected day three at Lord’s and the forecast is particularly grim, Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder might describe it as wetter than a platypus at a private prep school. Something like that anyway. Continue reading...

Updates from day two at Lord’s; play starts 11.30am Day one report | Sign up for the Spin | mail Tim 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 taking two four-wicket hauls here in 2018. And then the batters 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. Continue reading...

Over-by-over updates from Lord’s (11am BST) Sign up to The Spin | Send Taha an email here Hello, hello, hello. It’s been 10 years since Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan side rolled up at Lord’s and put it all together. Misbah, 42, reached three figures and celebrated with … push-ups. Yasir Shah, a wonderful leggie, spun his way to 10 wickets. And Mohammad Amir, who six years earlier had left the same venue in disgrace, went straight through Jake Ball to secure the 75-run victory. They saluted and sparkled, showing England they were up for the contest. Ten years? Feels longer, especially after what we all saw in Leeds last week. Pakistan were remarkably poor across three days, and England should really wrap up the series this week. Yes, they’ve got to deal with the headlines from some more late-night drama. But they’re used to that, right? Continue reading...