England Survives at Lord's Amidst PCB Controversy and Abbas' Bowling Masterclass

The second Test at Lord’s was supposed to be about swing, seam and survival under low cloud. It became something far more combustible.

By the time bad light finally dragged players from the field, England had scrambled to 248-9, rescued by Jamie Smith’s 61 and Jordan Cox’s 55 after another top-order wobble. On any other day, the story would have been about Mohammad Abbas and the old art of Test match bowling.

On this one, it shared the stage with a diplomatic flashpoint that briefly threatened to halt the match altogether.

Political storm in the lunch break

At lunch, with England reeling and Pakistan on top, the focus suddenly veered away from the middle. Sky Sports aired an 18‑minute interview with the sons of Imran Khan, the Pakistan great and former Prime Minister who has been held in solitary confinement for three years and is said to be in poor health.

Speaking to former England captain Michael Atherton, Kasim Khan did not soften his words.

“It is not very clear what they are doing, just blatantly trying to kill him in there. Keep him in as long as possible, and silence him,” he said.

Atherton framed the segment starkly on air: “This is a humanitarian appeal, because there are increasing concerns about the health and wellbeing of Imran Khan.”

The interview followed a renewed letter from a group of former international captains, driven by ex-Australia skipper Greg Chappell, urging Pakistan to ensure Imran receives proper medical care. According to his lawyers, the 71-year-old has lost most of the vision in his right eye.

“The former players who signed the letter, many of them played against Imran. He’s held in the highest regard as a former player, one of the greatest players that Pakistan have produced,” Atherton said. “And as his son said there, there’s an increasing sense of urgency around his health and we want to make sure he gets the proper and requisite medical care.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board did not let it pass.

Cricinfo reported that the PCB contacted Sky before the lunch interval, objecting to the segment and warning that Pakistan’s players would not return to the field if it went to air. Sky initially delayed the interview. Then ran it anyway.

By the time the clip ended at around 2.40pm, Pakistan’s players were already preparing to resume the second session. The threat of a walk-off receded, but the sense of unease lingered over a ground that has seen its share of drama, if rarely of this kind.

Abbas bites at his favourite ground

Out in the middle, the story was more familiar: Mohammad Abbas with a Dukes ball in his hand at Lord’s, and England’s top order under siege.

Pakistan, hammered by an innings and 103 runs at Headingley and anchored to the bottom of the World Test Championship table, needed a response. Babar Azam won the toss under heavy skies, looked at a greenish strip, and had no hesitation in sending England in. It was his only change from Leeds, returning from a finger injury in place of stand‑in captain Salman Ali Agha.

Abbas, 36 and a veteran of county stints up and down England, needed no reintroduction to this place. Six years ago he took eight wickets here and walked away with the player-of-the-match award. He admitted before stumps: “My first man-of-the match was at Lord’s, that’s why it’s my favourite ground -- hopefully I will put my name on the honours board this time.”

He bowled like a man intent on etching that line.

Emilio Gay was the first to go, feathering a glance down the leg side. It needed something special to make it count, and Mohammad Rizwan delivered, hurling himself to his left for a one-handed take that lit up the morning.

Ben Duckett followed for 17, trapped lbw by a nip-backer. England’s recurring weakness against medium pace with the keeper standing up surfaced again, and Rizwan stepped in close once more when Joe Root arrived.

The plan worked. Root, England’s linchpin, pinned on the back pad by Abbas, gone for four.

“Joe is a big batter, so I was pleased to get him with Rizwan coming up,” Abbas said. “When the ‘keeper is up, I am asking (questions), so we are making a plan.”

Harry Brook’s off stump was next to shudder, beaten by a superb Mohammad Ali delivery that jagged back through the gate. At lunch, England were 80-4 and hanging on.

Smith and Cox change the mood

The pressure should have squeezed England flat. Instead, the middle order finally stiffened.

Jamie Smith, playing with a clarity that eluded those above him, and Jordan Cox, compiling his second consecutive Test fifty, dragged the hosts back into the contest. Cox had an early life when Dan Lawrence flicked to midwicket and Shan Masood shelled a straightforward chance, a reminder of the fielding frailties that haunted Pakistan at Leeds.

Lawrence did not survive his next misjudgment. Turning Ali Usman to the leg side, he set off for a run that was never there. Cox sent him back, Masood swooped from midwicket and his throw to Rizwan found Lawrence short. A simple piece of cricket, ruthlessly executed.

Cox steadied again and then pressed on, leaning into Ali Usman with consecutive legside boundaries to reach his fifty from 88 balls, seven fours sprinkled through an innings built on tidy judgment and patience. At the other end, Smith moved more briskly, his own half-century arriving from just 63 deliveries as he picked off anything loose.

Their stand of 67 did more than repair the scorecard. It shifted the mood. Pakistan, so clinical with the ball, began to leak in the field. England, so often frantic in these situations, started to look settled.

The partnership ended with a moment of sharp fielding that Pakistan badly needed. Cox edged Khurram Shahzad to second slip, where substitute fielder Salman Ali Agha, back in the action after missing out as captain, flung himself to his right for a superb low catch.

Smith kept going, but Mohammad Ali returned to cut him off. A full ball, a hint of movement, and Smith’s off stump was flattened. Two balls later, Ali repeated the dose to Ollie Robinson with another nip-backer, ripping out the tailender and tightening Pakistan’s grip once more.

Bad light, unfinished business

By the close, Abbas had 4-56 from 15 overs, Ali 3-67 from 17. Figures that underlined just how much help there was in the air and off the pitch.

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

The umpires eventually decided those same conditions had tipped too far. Even with the floodlights blazing, they deemed it unsafe to continue and led the players off with England still one wicket short of being bowled out.

Pakistan’s day, though, was not perfect. The drops, the run-out chance they nearly fluffed, the inability to quite finish England off, all left the door ajar. This was a very different display from the listless showing in Leeds, but the job is not done.

England, minus the dropped Brydon Carse after another late-night drinking incident, know they have been let off lightly. From 36-3 and then 80-4, 248-9 feels like an escape route rather than a platform.

Abbas still talks of the honours board. Babar still has to bat on a surface that has already chewed through his opposite number. And above it all, the shadow of that lunchtime interview and the PCB’s fury hangs over Lord’s.

Day two will start with a ball still jagging, a score still fragile, and a series suddenly carrying a political edge as sharp as any seam.