Second Rothesay Test, Lord’s (day one of five)

England 248-9: Smith 61, Cox 55; Abbas 4-56

Pakistan: Yet to bat

Scorecard

Jamie Smith and Jordan Cox battled difficult conditions and an improved Pakistan performance to take England to a competitive total on the opening day of the second Test.

In the damp and gloom at Lord’s, Smith made 61 and Cox 55 to take England to 248-9 on a first day that was delayed by rain and curtailed by bad light.

The value of the hosts’ score will only be revealed in time. The Lord’s pitch is much better than the poor surface used for England’s win against New Zealand in June, while more rain is forecast for the next three days.

It could be that England have batted themselves into a position from where they can win this match and the series, which would be a successful end to a troubling week dominated by the Brydon Carse controversy.

Cox was again impressive in only his third Test. He added 67 for the for sixth wicket with Smith, who looked fluent for a much-needed half-century.

England were boosted by a late cameo of 34 not out from Gus Atkinson, while Pakistan were led by four wickets from Muhammad Abbas and three from Mohammad Ali. Things could have better for the tourists had they not dropped three catches.

Under a dark sky and with the floodlights on, England would probably have wanted to bowl before the day was out, only for the light to end proceedings.

For England, the chance to win their first Test series since 2024 comes after yet another off-field drinking incident.

Carse was removed from the squad for this Test after a night out in Derby on Saturday, with police investigating allegations of an assault. Carse is in the Durham side for their ongoing County Championship match against Gloucestershire.

The home side steamrollered Pakistan at Headingley in Joe Root’s first Test back as captain. It was always likely Pakistan would improve on their performance from Leeds, simply because the tourists could not play much worse.

Pakistan were boosted by the return of captain Babar Azam from a hand injury, in the side for Salman Ali Agha who skippered in Leeds. Babar’s first impact was to call correctly and play finally got under way at 12:20 BST.

The tourists’ trio of fast-medium seamers were ideally suited to the conditions and they showed much greater control than last week.

England were sometimes wasteful – Dan Lawrence ran himself out and Harry Brook was bowled driving – and sometimes unlucky – Emilio Gay was caught down the leg side. For the most part, the batters were happy to roll up their sleeves, another encouraging sign early in Root’s second reign.

The result was a compelling contest, an arm wrestle with neither side ever able to claim they held the upper hand.

England’s total seems at least workable, yet Pakistan have the chance to gain a foothold if they bat well. This could turn into a tight Test.

Cox is already showing himself to be difficult to leave out once Jacob Bethell returns from a knee injury, and one way England could retain him would be as wicketkeeper ahead of Smith.

On this occasion, they combined for the two telling batting contributions of the day, albeit in contrasting styles.

Abbas did the damage to the top order, with Root once again lbw with the keeper up to the stumps. When Lawrence was run out in a mix-up with Cox, England were 120-5 and teetering.

By this point, Cox had once again shown he has the technique and temperament for the highest level – he was patient as Pakistan dried up the scoring immediately after lunch.

Smith was given a life on 15 when keeper Mohammad Rizwan completely missed an edge off Ali. Reprieved, he dominated the strike and scoring in the stand with Cox, forcing the ball through the covers and whipping off his pads.

It took a moment of magic to part them. Salman, on as a sub, flew to his right at second slip to hold Cox, one-handed, off Khurram Shahzad.

This was an opportunity for Pakistan to get back into the series. Had England won the toss it feels reasonable to suspect the home bowlers would have made life very difficult for the fragile visiting batting.

Abbas was magnificent. At one point he claimed three wickets for four runs in the space of 16 balls – Gay, Ben Duckett and Root.

He received support from Ali, whose three wickets were all batters bowled by the ball nipping down the Lord’s slope. Brook, Smith and Ollie Robinson were his victims.

Two of Pakistan’s drops did not prove too costly. Root was missed at third slip by Imam-ul-Haq on one, though the skipper was out for four. Shan Masood spilled a simple catch at mid-wicket when Lawrence had 10, then the same fielder made amends to run out Lawrence for 17.

Rizwan’s miss was the most costly, symptomatic of the keeper and slip fielders appearing to stand too deep for most of the day with a number of edges not carrying through.