Ollie Robinson Dominates Pakistan at Lord's
Ollie Robinson ripped through Pakistan with a spell that will sit comfortably in Lord’s folklore, but by stumps on a chaotic second day the Test still refused to settle.
On a pitch alive with seam and spite, Robinson’s figures of 4-11 from 13 overs dragged Pakistan out for 110 and seemed to slam the door on any contest. England’s lead ballooned, their bowlers strutted off, and the tourists looked broken.
Then the new ball came out again.
By the close, England were 81-3 in their second innings, 261 runs ahead but with just enough scars to keep Pakistan interested and the series narrative twitching.
Robinson and Archer rip Pakistan apart
The collapse came quickly, brutally. Pakistan’s innings lasted just 37.2 overs and ended nine down, with Imam-ul-Haq unable to bat after the calf injury he picked up in the field on Thursday. It felt like an inevitability long before the final wicket fell.
Robinson was the architect. Relentless, heavy, nagging at that awkward length, he dismantled the middle order with the kind of control that turns a helpful surface into a weapon. Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan both fell lbw, trapped on the crease, undone by movement they could neither smother nor leave. Ali Usman chopped on to Jofra Archer, another victim of indecision.
Archer had lit the fuse earlier. Back in rhythm and back at proper pace, he prised out Shan Masood with a 91 mph full ball that demanded a shot and found only an edge through to Jamie Smith. Shan, opening in place of Imam, managed just one. The tone was set.
Josh Tongue, already buoyed by a Test-best 30 not out at No. 11 in the morning, then removed Abdullah Shafique with the last ball before lunch, another nick behind, Pakistan marooned at 16-2 and already staring at another bleak scorecard after 171 and 135 at Headingley.
Babar Azam briefly threatened to change the script. He punched Tongue through the covers for four to get off the mark, then flashed another boundary off Gus Atkinson. Two strokes of authority, two reminders of his class. That was it. Tongue drew the edge, Jordan Cox flung himself at third slip, and Pakistan’s captain walked off for a fleeting cameo in his return from a finger injury.
From 30-3, the innings never truly recovered. Only Azan Awais, opening and dropped on eight by Harry Brook in the slips, showed any meaningful resistance. His 46 was a small act of defiance in a day of damage, forged against Archer’s fastest spell he said he had ever faced. He survived the storm, but too few followed.
The end came in a rush. Archer uprooted Mohammad Abbas’s off stump to finish with 3-26, a strike that matched the mood: ruthless, clinical, and emphatic.
England’s tail twists the knife
Pakistan’s bowlers had started the day with hope. England resumed on 248-9, Abbas having ripped through the top order on Thursday with a superb burst of 3-4 in 16 balls after Pakistan won the toss. Smith and Cox had already dragged England back into the contest with fifties, but at 9 down, the tourists still had a chance to limit the damage.
Atkinson and Tongue shut that door.
Atkinson, who owns a Lord’s Test century, resumed on 34 not out and continued to bat like a man who understands this stage. Tongue, on one overnight, grew in confidence. He glanced Mohammad Ali for four, then drove Abbas through the covers, making a mockery of Pakistan’s lack of raw pace.
Babar eventually turned to left-arm spinner Ali Usman. Atkinson drove his third ball of the day for four, only to hole out to the very next delivery for 45. The last-wicket stand of 47 had already done its work, dragging England to 295 and stretching Pakistan’s patience before a ball of their reply had been bowled.
That frustration bled into their batting. England’s seamers pounced.
New-ball jitters and Root under pressure again
If Pakistan’s 110 felt terminal, the surface quickly reminded everyone that no batter was safe.
Khurram Shahzad charged in with the new ball and immediately carved open England’s top order. Ben Duckett, trying to force a half-volley that wasn’t quite there, spooned a simple catch to mid-off for one. Cox, fresh from his first-innings fifty, fell lbw on review for 11, Shahzad’s figures a startling 2-5 from two overs.
Once again, Joe Root walked in with England wobbling at 13-2. Once again, the responsibility sat squarely on his shoulders.
Root and Emilio Gay steadied the innings. They left well, played late, and slowly pushed the lead into territory that felt more than just competitive. Root, as so often, looked the calmest man in the chaos.
Then the ball jagged back.
On 24, he was pinned lbw by Mohammad Ali, utterly plumb, the ninth time in 12 Test innings he has fallen leg before. A pattern, and a problem, that will not go unnoticed.
The very next ball, Brook was given out lbw too, only for the review to reveal a thick inside edge. A near double-strike became a let-off, and with it a small but important psychological shift.
Gay and Brook saw England through to 81-3 before bad light dragged them off, the lead out to 261 and the game still leaning heavily in the hosts’ favour, yet not quite settled.
A lead that looms large
Archer summed it up bluntly: on this pitch, “there was a ball with your name on it today.” England’s batters know it. Pakistan’s batters have already suffered it.
A lead of 261 on a surface offering this much seam movement feels enormous. It might already be enough. But with the ball misbehaving, the clouds hanging, and both attacks sensing blood, this Test still has room for one more twist.
The question now is simple: can Pakistan summon the discipline and courage to chase shadows in the fourth innings, or has Robinson’s spell already written the final line?
