Ollie Robinson Dominates Pakistan at Lord's Test

Ollie Robinson has known quieter days at Lord’s. This was not one of them.

On a pitch that kept whispering to the seamers, the England quick roared, tearing Pakistan apart with a ruthless spell of 4-11 in 13 overs as the tourists folded for 110 in the second Test. Thirteen wickets fell in the day. Every mistake felt fatal.

And yet, by stumps, England were not striding away but still working. Their second innings lurched to 13-2 before steadying to 81-3 when bad light finally dragged everyone off, the hosts 261 runs ahead and edging towards a series-clinching 2-0 lead in this three-match contest.

Robinson leads a ruthless pack

This was a collective dismantling, but Robinson set the tone with the ball and refused to let it slip. His lengths were nagging, his movement late and sharp, and Pakistan’s middle order never looked certain which way the ball would dart next.

He was backed by Jofra Archer, who provided the first real shock to Pakistan’s system. Archer’s figures – 3-26 – barely told the story of his spell. He hit 91 mph, hammered the length, and forced Pakistan’s top order into hurried, ugly decisions.

Josh Tongue, fresh from a vital 30 not out at No. 11 earlier in the day, chipped in with 2-27, including the key strikes around lunch that deepened Pakistan’s crisis. Between them, England’s seamers turned a modest total into a dominant position.

“There was a ball with your name on it today,” Archer said afterwards, summing up the mood of a day when survival felt as much an achievement as scoring.

Pakistan’s innings lasted just 37.2 overs and ended with nine wickets down, Imam-ul-Haq unable to bat after a calf injury suffered in the field on Thursday. It was brutal and brief.

Awais stands alone

Amid the wreckage, Azan Awais stood up. The opener, promoted into a starring role by circumstance, top-scored with a gritty 46 and wore the new ball with something close to defiance.

He had his slice of luck – dropped on eight in the slips by Harry Brook – but then dug in, especially against Archer’s hostile burst. He later admitted it was “probably the fastest spell” he had faced, and it showed in the way he played: tight, compact, eyes fixed on survival.

Only Saud Shakeel, with 16, joined him in double figures. The rest came and went in a blur of edges, misjudgments and lbw decisions.

Pakistan, bowled out for 171 and 135 in their innings defeat at Headingley, looked alarmingly familiar here once the early breakthroughs arrived.

Early damage and a rapid slide

The first blow came when Shan Masood, opening in place of the injured Imam, pushed flat-footed at Archer and nicked a full ball through to Jamie Smith for one. The pace and angle did the work.

Tongue then struck with what became the last ball before lunch, Abdullah Shafique edging behind to leave Pakistan 16-2 and already wobbling.

Babar Azam briefly flickered. Back in the side after missing the first Test with a finger injury, he announced himself by crunching Tongue through the covers for four and then driving Gus Atkinson to the boundary with trademark fluency. It looked like the beginning of a rescue act.

It wasn’t. Tongue drew the error, Babar flashing and nicking to a diving Jordan Cox at third slip for another early exit. Pakistan 30-3, and the pattern from Leeds repeating itself.

From there, Robinson took over. Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan both fell lbw, trapped by deliveries that straightened just enough. Ali Usman chopped on to Archer. The lower order disintegrated, Archer finishing it in emphatic style by knocking over Mohammad Abbas’s off stump.

Awais’s resistance ended with the rest, a lone figure in a crumbling innings that left Pakistan 110 all out and miles behind the game.

England’s tail bites back

Pakistan’s frustration had actually started much earlier, with the last pair of Atkinson and Tongue in England’s first innings. England resumed on 248-9, seemingly one ball away from wrapping up, only for the No. 10 and No. 11 to dig in and add 47 vital runs.

Atkinson, who already owns a Test century at Lord’s, resumed on 34 not out and continued to drive with authority. Tongue joined him, glancing Mohammad Ali for four and drilling Abbas through the covers as Pakistan’s seam attack, lacking raw pace, struggled to finish the job.

Babar eventually turned to left-arm spinner Ali Usman. Atkinson promptly drove his third ball of the morning for four before miscuing the next and holing out, but by then England had stretched their total and tilted the game further in their favour.

Those extra runs looked even bigger once Pakistan’s reply imploded.

England wobble, then steady

If Pakistan needed a spark, Khurram Shahzad briefly supplied it with the new ball. England’s second innings started with a jolt as Ben Duckett, on one, mistimed a half-volley straight to mid-off. Cox followed for 11, lbw on review, and suddenly the hosts were 13-2 on a surface still alive with seam movement.

Out walked Joe Root, as he has so many times before, with England in trouble and the game at a delicate point.

Root and Emilio Gay set about calming the chaos. They left well, rode their luck when needed, and slowly pushed England’s lead beyond 200. The rhythm changed; Pakistan’s bowlers, so buoyant early on, were forced into longer spells and harder questions.

Then came another twist. On 24, Root was pinned lbw by a ball from Mohammad Ali that jagged back sharply. No doubt, no escape. It was the ninth time in 12 Test innings that Root has fallen leg before, a pattern now firmly on the radar.

Next ball, Ali thought he had Brook as well. The umpire agreed, raising the finger for another lbw. Brook reviewed, and the replay showed a thick inside edge. The decision was overturned, the hat-trick ball denied, and England exhaled.

By the time bad light closed in, Brook and Gay had guided England to 81-3, the lead swelling to 261 and the pressure swinging back on Pakistan.

Series on the line

England hold the advantage, and a heavy one, but this pitch has already shown it can turn any session into a minefield. One cluster of wickets could yet drag Pakistan back into the contest; one solid partnership for England on the third morning could shut the door completely.

For now, Robinson’s figures and Archer’s pace echo around Lord’s, and Pakistan stare at a fourth innings that may define their tour.