Jamie Smith and Jordan Cox both scored fifties as England recovered from a top-order collapse against Pakistan to reach 248-9 when bad light ended Thursday’s (August 27, 2026) opening day of the second Test at Lord’s.

Veteran paceman Mohammad Abbas took three wickets for four runs in 16 balls, including the prize scalp of England captain Joe Root for four, as the hosts slumped to 36-3, after Pakistan won the toss in helpful conditions for seam bowling.

But Smith’s 61 and 55 from number three Cox — his second fifty in successive Test innings — got England back into the game.

Abbas had fine figures of 4-56 in 15 overs and fellow seamer Mohammad Ali 3-67 in 17 when the umpires ruled it was unsafe to continue despite the floodlights illuminating the ground.

“I think it is a decent enough day for us,” Smith told Sky Sports after the close. “The ball was doing enough, nipping around — overhead conditions obviously assisted.

“Pakistan bowled nicely and showed that when you take wickets with the new ball you can start to put teams under a bit more pressure.”

Pakistan were woeful in all departments during an innings and 103-run defeat in the first of a three-Test series at Headingley last week.

They did, however, have the worst of the conditions after losing the toss before being dismissed for meagre totals of 171 and 135.

Fine catch

It was a different story in London, with Pakistan captain Babar Azam opting to field on a green-tinged pitch under grey skies following a rain delay.

Azam was the only change to either side, as he returned from a finger injury in place of stand-in skipper Salman Ali Agha.

England had dropped fast bowler Brydon Carse, who did not play in the first Test, from their squad after another late-night drinking incident.

Abbas, who has had stints with several English counties, was soon into his stride on a ground where he was named player of the match after taking eight wickets in Pakistan’s victory in their last Test at Lord’s in 2018.

The 36-year-old was fortunate, however, when Emilio Gay glanced a legside ball only for diving wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan to hold an excellent one-handed catch.

Ben Duckett fell for 17 when lbw to an Abbas nip-backer.

Medium-pace bowling with the ‘keeper standing up to the stumps has plagued England in recent times and Rizwan was up to the wicket when Abbas pinned Root on the back leg.

Harry Brook was then bowled for 15 by a superb Ali delivery that jagged back, with England 80-4 at lunch.

Dan Lawrence had made 10 when he flicked to midwicket only for Shan Masood to drop a seemingly routine catch.

Pakistan’s fielding was poor as they tumbled to the bottom of the World Test Championship table with defeat in Leeds.

But when Lawrence turned spinner Ali Usman legside and set off for a non-existent single, only to be sent back by Cox, he was run out by Masood’s accurate throw from mid-wicket to Rizwan.

Cox struck consecutive legside boundaries off Usman to complete an 88-ball fifty including seven fours.

His partnership of 67 with Smith ended when substitute fielder Agha held a superb catch at second slip off Khurram Shahzad.

Smith, whose fifty came from a mere 63 balls, was clean bowled by Ali and two balls later the paceman dismissed tailender Ollie Robinson with another nip-backer.

Jofra Archer straight-drove Abbas for six before the bowler had his revenge, with Gus Atkinson — who has a Test century at Lord’s to his credit — a useful 34 not out at stumps.

Joe Root expressed his frustration that a winning return as England Test captain has been overshadowed by another off-field incident that saw Brydon Carse dropped for the second Test against Pakistan.

Carse has been referred to the Cricket Regulator after videos on social media appeared to show the fast bowler being led away by police in handcuffs following an incident at a nightclub in Derby on Saturday (August 22, 2026).

It is the latest in a series of alcohol-fuelled controversies that have dogged England since a disastrous tour of New Zealand and Australia at the end of last year.

White-ball captain Harry Brook was involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington and videos circulated of opener Ben Duckett appearing drunk on a night out during the 4-1 Ashes series thrashing by Australia.

In June, former captain Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were given a written warning and stood down from the second Test against New Zealand after an incident at a London nightclub which came after they broke a curfew.

Stokes announced his shock retirement from international cricket during the third Test a few days later, paving the way for Root to return for a second spell as red-ball captain.

England thrashed Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs inside three days of his first match back in charge last week.

“If I’m being brutally honest, I’m really hacked off. I’m really disappointed that, after last week’s performance, we’re sat here and we’re talking about something that is not related to it at all,” Root told a press conference on Tuesday (August 25, 2026).

“It’s not the isolated incident itself, it’s the fact we continuously keep making stupid mistakes away from the game and it’s detracting from what we are doing on the field.”

A curfew on players going out was introduced in January following the troubled tour to Down Under.

Bigger than curfews

However, Root has said he will not impose a curfew as he does not believe it is a productive way to change the culture around the England squad.

“I still don’t believe that’s the way to go. It’s important we create something bigger than that, it’s about having something long lasting that we can be proud of,” added the 35-year-old.

“Clearly we are not portraying ourselves how we want to and I think we have an opportunity to build a culture that is very strong, that we can be proud of, that is player driven and of course that isn’t going to happen overnight.

“We have already had conversations as a team on what is expected from this group of players, what it means to play for England, what it takes to play for England.

“We want to create something that we can be proud of, that people who follow us can be proud of.”

Carse was not selected for the first Test and has been withdrawn from the squad for the second Test, which begins at Lord’s on Thursday (August 27, 2026).

Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes an example has to be made to draw a line in the sand and improve off-field behaviour going forward.

“Someone is going to have to get a punishment that sends a shiver down the whole England cricket team and right down through the programme, so that everyone knows that if you misbehave or bring any kind of bad reputation onto this team, you know what’s going to come,” Vaughan told the BBC.

“It’s the only punishment that will really hurt players.”

England will aim to put their latest drinking drama behind them when they face Pakistan in the second Test at Lord’s starting on Thursday (August 27, 2026).

The hosts ought to be in an utterly buoyant mood after returning captain Joe Root oversaw an innings and 103-run thrashing of Pakistan inside three days at his Headingley homeground last week.

But rather than speak about England’s progress, Root spent much of a pre-match press conference talking about Brydon Carse, dropped from the squad and now under investigation by the Cricket Regulator after videos on social media showed the fast bowler being led away by police in handcuffs following an incident at a Derby nightclub on Saturday (August 22, 2026).

This is the latest in a series of alcohol-fuelled controversies that have dogged England since a disastrous 2025/26 tour of New Zealand and Australia.

Both former captain Ben Stokes — who has since retired from all international cricket — and paceman Gus Atkinson were stood down in June from the second Test at home to New Zealand following an incident at a London bar which came after they broke a curfew policy that has now been ditched by Root.

Carse did not feature at Headingley, and was unlikely to play at Lord’s barring injury, but his conduct led a frustrated Root to say Tuesday: “If I’m being brutally honest, I’m really hacked off…It’s not the isolated incident itself, it’s the fact we continuously keep making stupid mistakes away from the game and it’s detracting from what we are doing on the field.”

England, with seamers Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue taking eight wickets apiece, skittled out Pakistan for just 171 and 135 in the first Test while posting 409 themselves, even though none of their four batsmen who reached fifty, a quartet including Root, went on to a century.

Nevertheless, it was a professional display lacking the self-indulgent extravagances that characterised England’s cricket in the closing stages of the Bazball era under Stokes and Brendon McCullum, sacked as Test coach following the series loss to New Zealand.

Pakistan ‘hopeful’ over Babar Azam

By contrast, Pakistan were deficient in all departments with their inadequate batting compounded by an inaccurate and largely unthreatening pace attack as well as embarrassingly shoddy fielding.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam, however, could return at Lord’s from a finger injury initially sustained during the tour of the West Indies and later exacerbated when he was hit on the hand during a warm-up game at Beckenham.

“We’re hopeful he will be available for the game and today (Tuesday) he was looking good; he batted well in the nets,” said Pakistan bowling coach Umar Gul. “He had a full batting session.”

Azam was Pakistan’s top run-scorer in the West Indies, with 193 runs during a drawn two-Test series.

He has also enjoyed success in England, with three fifties in six innings while averaging 65.75.

Azan Awais may make way if Azam returns at number four, with one of Shan Masood or Abdullah Shafique moving up the order to open.

Pakistan, who only a decade ago were Test cricket’s top-ranked side, have won their last two Tests at Lord’s, with Azam making 68 during a nine-wicket rout of England in 2018.

But even though Pakistan have a longstanding reputation for veering between astonishing highs and lows, a vast improvement will be required if they are to level this three-match series.

“We’ll have to learn from the mistakes we made in the previous game,” said Gul. “If you want to win a Test match, you have to perform in all departments. One can’t be carrying the other.”

Meanwhile, with England having won just three of their last 11 Tests, a wary Root said: “We know the individual brilliance that lies within that team and what Pakistan are capable of collectively.

“We also know that whenever we play anyone at Lord’s, they generally raise their game. This (England) group won’t be taking anything for granted.”