Updates from day two at Lord’s; play starts 11.30am
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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.
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