Pakistan suffered the early losses of experienced opener Shan Masood and in-form Abdullah Shafique after dismissing England for 290 in the morning session of day two of the second Test at Lord’s on Friday.
At the Lunch break, the Green Shirts were reeling at 16/2, trailing by a further 274 runs, with young opener Azan Awais (eight) in the middle. He will be joined by Pakistan captain Babar Azam in the afternoon session.
Pakistan got off to a dismal start to their innings as they lost Masood (one) in the fourth over with just five runs on the board.
Azan was then joined by Shafique in the middle, and the duo could raise 11 runs for the second wicket before Josh Tongue got the latter caught behind on the first delivery of the 15th over.
His dismissal brought Pakistan’s total down to 16/2, besides prompting the on-field umpires to call it a session.
Earlier, Pakistani pacers shared eight wickets between them as the visitors bowled England out for 290.
England, who resumed their innings at 248/9 after 56 overs on the opening day, frustated Pakistani bowlers to get the last wickets, adding 42 runs in 10.4 overs.
Gus Atkinson was the final batter to be dismissed after scoring 45 off 46 deliveries, including six boundaries, while Josh Tongue remained unbeaten on 30 off 48 deliveries, with four boundaries.
The duo added 47 runs for the final wicket to help England recover from a difficult position and post a competitive total.
Pakistan’s pace attack continued to dominate, with Mohammad Abbas finishing with figures of 4/73 from 20 overs.
Mohammad Ali claimed three wickets, while Khurram Shahzad and Ali Usman took one wicket each as Pakistan wrapped up England’s innings.
For England, Jamie Smith scored 61 while Jordan Cox made 55.
The visitors had dominated the opening day despite only 56 overs being bowled due to rain and bad light. Rain delayed the toss and start of play, while poor light forced an early close, around an hour before the scheduled finish.
At stumps, England were 248/9, with Atkinson unbeaten on 34 and Tongue on one.
Pakistan’s pace trio of Mohammad Ali, Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Abbas made a strong impact during the final 12-over session, restricting England to 68 runs for four wickets.
Meawnwhile, opener Imam-ul-Haq’s participation in the remainder of the match in doubt after he suffered a low-grade calf strain. The visitors opened with former skipper Shan Masood and Azan Awais.
