Key events

“Has it really been 22 years?” asks Phil Withall. “The Monster Munch and energy drinks powering yourself and Andy Bull through the long dark nights, the wonder of London’s night time transport links, the slow and comforting decent into madness that has led to this point in time...

“Thank you for your sacrifice, humour, knowledge and timing...”

I’d query all four of those, particularly ‘sacrifice’, but thank you. I do need to correct one potentially slanderous comment. At no time did Monster Munch and energy drinks pass Andy Bull’s lips.

WICKET! England 409 all out (Tongue b Khurram 8)

A half-volley from Khurram is timed sweetly down the ground for four by Tongue. If he keeps playing shots like that we’ll have to start call him Tonguedulkar.

Ah never mind. Tongue has been bowled by a fine off-cutter from Khurram Shahzad, who finishes with unusual but appropriate figures of 21.5-1-133-3. England lead by 238.

89th over: England 403-9 (Archer 22, Tongue 4) Tongue gets off the mark, and brings up the 400, with a breezy chip down the ground for four off Abbas. England lead by choo hundred and thirty choo.

“The top 1000 Tests, you say?” weeps Matt Dony. “As far as I can see, there have been around 2600-2700 Tests played. So, in order to be one of the Greatest 1000, it only has to be in the top 37% or so. And there have been a LOT of forgettable Tests. I agree that this may not be a classic, but I don’t think we can dismiss the idea that it could potentially sneak in around the 932nd place in the list.”

Nah mate, that’s Delhi 1981-82.

Jofra Archer underachieved with the bat in his first Test career but he has played some handy knocks since his return last summer.

• 2019-21 155 runs at 7.75

• 2025-26 160 runs at 17.77

88th over: England 399-9 (Archer 22, Tongue 0) Archer tries to flick Khurram into the leg side and gets a leading edge behind square for four.

You would think that, after 22 years, I’d remember to post the Test Match Special overseas link at the start of every day. But no, I need a reminder every time. Here it is.

WICKET! England 392-9 (Smith c Masood b Khurram 25)

Urgh, that’s a tame dismissal. Jamie Smith tries to cuff Khurram across the line and skies the ball straight to mid-on.

Pakistan's Shan Masood takes a catch to dismiss England's Jamie Smith off the bowling of Pakistan's Khurram Shahzad. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/Reuters

87th over: England 392-8 (Smith 25, Archer 16) Archer swishes and misses at Abbas, who gives him a look as if to say, ‘Show some respect, mate, I’ve got 119 Test wickets at 23 apiece.’

Archer ignores the unspoken advice and heaves an ugly boundary through midwicket. For lovers of Pakistan cricket, this is hard to watch.

86th over: England 385-8 (Smith 23, Archer 11) Khurram Shahzad replaces Ali Usman and is pulled spectacularly for six by Archer. Pick that out!

That six lifts England’s lead to 214. They’ve lost only one Test match after taking a first-innings lead of 200: Wellington 2022-23, when they enforced the follow-on against New Zealand and were beaten by one run.

Oddly, it was also in Wellington that Pakistan overcome their biggest deficit to win a Test: 170 in 2003-04. It was a Shoaib Akhtar special. New Zealand were 95 for 3 one minute, 103 all out the next.

85th over: England 375-8 (Smith 21, Archer 4) Salman Ali Agha calls for the new ball after a single delivery of Abbas’s over. Archer flicks nicely through midwicket for three.

“Tragedy is too strong a word, but I’ve felt something approaching that watching this Pakistan side,” writes Gary Naylor. “It’s not that they’re no good, it’s that they’re boring.”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzindabad? There should be a rule that Pakistan will always pick a wristspinner or somebody who can bowl 90mph.

84th over: England 370-8 (Smith 19, Archer 1) And three singles from Ali Usman’s first over. It’s been a sedate start to the day.

83rd over: England 367-8 (Smith 17, Archer 0) A quiet first over of the day from Mohammad Abbas, with just a single to Jamie Smith. The new ball is available but the left-arm spinner Ali Usman, who took five of the six wickets to fall yesterday, is going to continue at the other end.

The second Test between Australia and Bangladesh starts in the early hours of tomorrow morning UK time; we’ll have live over-by-over coverage on the site. Australia, who were hammered in the first Test, have made one change to their XI: Matt Renshaw replaces Jake Weatherald at the top of the order.

On this day in 1986… Ian Botham writes his own script.

Jordan Cox was one of four half-centurions as England maintained control of the first Test against Pakistan – but there were a few regrets as no one reached three figures on day two in Leeds.

“We were hoping one of us would have kicked on and instead of make it just a hundred, make it 150, 160, 170,” said Cox, who hit 73 in his first Test innings at No 3. “And then the game looks, not completely different, but it puts us in definitely a better position.”

Nonetheless, England look primed to take a series lead. Harry Brook top-scored with 91 as Joe Root and Dan Lawrence hit 66 and 51, respectively, after rain delayed the start of play until 2.45pm. England closed on 366 for eight, extending their first-innings lead to 195.

Ali Usman was the one positive on another tough day for Pakistan, with the left-arm spinner claiming five for 92. “Hopefully, the boys can get 50 runs tomorrow,” said Cox. “You never know, we’ve still got Jamie [Smith] at the crease there and Jofra [Archer], who can still give it a good whack. So hopefully 50-odd runs and then get to our work.”

“I was browsing the changes to the laws of cricket which will come into effect in October,” begins Andrew Goudie, “and I noticed ‘If the striker hits the ball straight, it rebounds off the stumps at the bowler’s end, and rebounds to the striker’s wicket, it will no longer be out Bowled.’ Who knew?

“There’s also a great example of things nobody wants to see except everybody: ‘if a batter were to celebrate the winning hit from the last ball of the match by punching the bowler in the face, they would subsequently lose the match’, which made me think that somebody at Lord’s has been reading old episodes of ‘You Are The Ref‘ featuring a former England and Manchester United full back.”

When Jordan Cox was 19, playing in his fifth first-class match and unbeaten overnight on 167 for Kent against Sussex, he decided to set himself a new task. Cox told Sam Billings, his captain and an England international, that he would go past Billings’ first-class best of 171. The top scores of other teammates were in sight, too. “I was just ticking people off,” Cox said a few weeks later. “Having a higher score than Sam Billings and Joe Denly at 19, that’s what got me going.” Denly, an England No 3, had a best of 227. Cox finished on 238 not out.

Six years on, that confidence and bit of swagger made its way to Leeds, with Cox resuming on 23 after England’s near-perfect Wednesday. There were no visible nerves, no rollerskates on the feet. A few gentle taps of the ground, a small shift on to the back foot and then plenty of time before he presented the middle. He looked on holiday while batting in only his second Test, and that too with the responsibility of building a first-innings lead at first drop. Joe Root, 167 Tests in, was at the other end and Cox did not look out of place alongside his captain. The pair have done a bit of this now. Just last week they were decked out in red, trying to launch it together in the Hundred. Strong Welsh Fire, strong England?

Ali Martin’s day two report

The clock had just ticked past 7pm, there was still half an hour of play left on this soggy second day, and it looked for all money that Harry Brook would end a year-long wait for his 11th Test century with a first at his home ground of Headingley.

Brook had agonisingly missed out by one run against India here last summer. And this time, against a ragged Pakistan side that had handed him a life second ball amid another outing to forget, the box was practically begging to be ticked.

And then it happened. With 91 runs to his name, Brook rocked back and went to push the left-arm spin of Ali Usman through vacant midwicket only to swipe at fresh air and hear the ball cannon on to his stumps. Brook came into this match as the world’s No 1-ranked batter but this particular local peak remains elusive.

For all that Brook was cursing himself back in the dressing room, and Usman struck twice more before stumps – he ended the day with five for 92 – it was not hugely damaging to England’s position. At stumps Joe Root’s side had progressed to 366 for eight, and a lead of 195 runs, wi

The weather forecast, since you asked, is pretty good. AccuWeather, the dog walker’s best friend, predicts “bright periods with a brief shower or two this afternoon”.

Preamble

When some sad loner writes the book on the 1000 greatest Test matches – don’t worry, I’m on it – England v Pakistan at Headingley in 2026 will not be a contender. Sure, there’s a chance of Ali Usman giving England a nasty, Multan 2005-style surprise in fourth innings, but right now it looks like a one-sided game of lowish quality.

England will resume on 366 for 8, a lead of 195, after a productive but frustrating second day on which Jordan Cox, Joe Root, Harry Brook and Dan Lawrence all failed to convert fifties into hundreds. As the Telegraph’s Rob Bagchi put it, England have entered the era of daddy fifties.

It was a shame for Cox and Lawrence in particular, but there’s a bigger picture to consider. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good, not when you’ve lost seven of the last nine Tests. In the current climate, a forgettable victory would be preferable to another memorable defeat.