England thrashes Pakistan by 194 runs at Lord’s to seal a cricket series win with a test to spare
LONDON: England beat Pakistan by 194 runs in four days of the second cricket test at Lord’s on Sunday and comfortably won its first test series since December 2024 with a match to spare.
Pakistan was inevitably bowled for 194 in a daunting chase of 389 about 45 minutes after tea. Saud Shakeel led his team’s first batting resistance in the series and was caught on the boundary for an agonizing 97, the highest score in the series for either team.England had to take only 18 wickets because opening batter Imam-ul-Haq never appeared after tearing his left calf muscle on the first day.
Ollie Robinson led England’s four seamers with eight wickets, including 4-24 on Sunday and a staggering 8-35 in 27 overs in the match. He was voted the player of the match for a third time in three straight tests.
“It helps to have three (other) guys who bowl at 90 mph, it allows me to just dot up at one end and build the pressure,” he said. “It’s quite a nice pairing (with Jofra Archer) to open the bowling, someone bowling thatEngland has won a series at its first attempt in the post- Bazball era under new captain Joe Root and Marcus Trescothick, the interim coach until Stephen Fleming arrives next month.
“It does feel good and fully deserved as well. The guys have been excellent,” Root told the BBC.
“We had the worst of the conditions for most of the game, and we had to work hard for it towards the back end. Fair play to Saud, I thought he played nicely but the relentless nature in which the guys kept coming at you always felt like we were going to get there in the end.”Shakeel and Shan Masood fashioned a 97-run partnership from 14-3 that frustrated England for nearly four hours.
But Robinson broke the partnership an hour out from a delayed tea when he pinned Masood. Robinson quickly added Mohammad Rizwan, his 99th test wicket, and didn’t bowl again.
Shakeel missed the preceding test series in the Caribbean, and despite 5 and 14 in the innings loss in Leeds last week he retained a 51 average against England. Masood was sacked as captain in May but was retained for his experience.England’s frustration became obvious after lunch as it frequently and vainly asked the umpires to check the ball, and resorted to Dan Lawrence’s part-time off-spin for only the second time in the series.
Meanwhile, Shakeel reached 50 off 54 balls, his 15th half-century in tests and second outside of Asia.
Robinson’s return with wicketkeeper Jamie Smith up at the stumps got the breakthrough for England when he trapped Masood lbw on leg stump, out for 26 from 72 balls. Their resistance lasted 23 overs.