Updated at\u00a010.11 EDT<\/p>\n
26th over: Pakistan 88-2 (Imam 40, Shafique 40) Robinson completes a maiden to Imam. Jamie Smith came up the stumps for the last ball of the over; that tactic is so damn hot right now.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Imam is all strapped up and ready to continue.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 25.3 overs: Pakistan 88-2 (Imam 40, Shafique 40) Ollie Robinson replaces Josh Tongue, who will presumably change ends. His first ball is timed at 72mph but still does enough off the seam to beat Imam. Oh, Keysie.<\/p>\n Rob Key is the only man in Test history to be dismissed by both Steve Waugh and Damien Martyn. But I didn\u2019t think the poor guy would be haunted by dobbers 25 years later.<\/p>\n Imam defends against Robinson and then calls for the physio. He started to set off for a possible single, then winced as he returned to his crease. It looks like a calf problem, albeit a twinge rather than a tear. The physio is strapping it up.<\/p>\n The physio works their magic. Photograph: Lee Smith\/Action Images\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.11 EDT<\/p>\n 25th over: Pakistan 88-2 (Imam 40, Shafique 40) Archer’s first ball after drinks is a bit of a freebie. Imam cuts it for four but then plays and misses at a snorter from round the wicket. The ball is still doing enough when England get their length right.<\/p>\n The three Hundred bowlers have been straining for accuracy all day. When Archer strays on the pads, Imam helps himself to three more behind square.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Drinks break<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d have Sir Anderson Montgomery Everton Roberts, KCN, right up there in the highest echelon,\u201d writes Andrew Goudie. \u201cCalm, composed, lethal menace.\u201d<\/p>\n Plus one of the great bowling brains and a quicker bouncer that kept a few dentists in business. I used to love hearing Michael Holding talk about Andy Roberts.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 24th over: Pakistan 81-2 (Imam 33, Shafique 40) Shafique is beaten by an unreal delivery from Tongue: full and angled in before spitting like a leg break.<\/p>\n Another good stat on Sky. In Tests, Josh Tongue averages 23 against right-handers and 39 against lefties. He wants Shafique on strike as much as possible.<\/p>\n When Tongue drifts onto the pads, however, Shafique touches him round the corner for four. The next ball is too straight and clipped with authority to midwicket boundary.<\/p>\n Terrific batting, that, particularly the second shot. It would have been easy for Shafique to go into his shell while Tongue was working him over.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.51 EDT<\/p>\n 23rd over: Pakistan 71-2 (Imam 33, Shafique 30) England look a bit flat in the field. This isn\u2019t the time for the full short-ball ploy, but Root has tossed a eggs in that basket by placing Emilio Gay at long leg for a top-edged pull. Nothing doing in that over.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 22nd over: Pakistan 70-2 (Imam 33, Shafique 30) Tongue, who has a fine record against right-handers, is already causing Shafique problems. He\u2019s squared up by an unpleasant delivery that rips from a length to hit him high on the back leg. Too high for an LBW appeal but a fine bit of bowling.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 21st over: Pakistan 69-2 (Imam 33, Shafique 29) Shafique takes a quick single off Archer and is comfortbaly home when Lawrence\u2019s throw hits the stumps. Lawrence, always entertaining\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNo Courtney, no party, as far as that bowling line-up is concerned,\u201d says Sean Clayton. \u201cI don\u2019t remember much Windies cricket before the mid-80s but my gut still wants to go with Walsh, Ambrose and Marshall before even looking at anyone else…\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019d have him half a rung \u2013 okay, a quarter of a rung \u2013 below Ambrose, Marshall, Garner, Holding and probably Roberts. That said, if I was picking only two of those West Indian quicks to shoulder a crap team, Courtney would be first choice. Some of the never-ending spells he bowled at the turn of the century were incredible. My deputy will tell Sylvester Clarke.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.37 EDT<\/p>\n 20th over: Pakistan 68-2 (Imam 33, Shafique 28) Josh Tongue comes on for Atkinson, who bowled a mixed spell of 7-0-30-0.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a nice variety in this England attack, even though they have four right-arm quicks. Tongue is the bovver boy, or maybe the Paulie Walnuts figure, and he almost takes out Shafique with a sizzling second delivery that beats the bat and whistles past the off stump. A good start.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 19th over: Pakistan 66-2 (Imam 32, Shafique 27) Archer concedes his first runs when a gorgeous on-drive from Shafique runs away for four. That brings up an increasingly assured fifty partnership with Imam.<\/p>\n After bowling an absolute jaffa from round the wicket to beat Imam, Archer overpitches and is clattered through the covers for four more. Risk y reward.<\/p>\n Imam pushes three more through mid-off to leave Archer with unusual figures of 4-3-12-0.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 18th over: Pakistan 54-2 (Imam 25, Shafique 22) Imam cuts Atkinson for four to bring up the Pakistan fifty. They\u2019re going well now and I\u2019m surprised Joe Root hasn\u2019t turned to Josh Tongue.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 17th over: Pakistan 48-2 (Imam 19, Shafique 22) Jofra Archer replaces Robinson and starts with a maiden to Shafique. His radar is still all over the place, certainly by his immaculate standards, and Shafique was able to leave most of the deliveries. Archer\u2019s figures of 3-3-0-0 are a bit deceptive.<\/p>\n In other news, the PCB have just announced that Pakistan will host England and Sri Lanka in an ODI tri-series in October. Thanks to Ali for sending over the details<\/a> of my next holiday. Urgh, I wish.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.18 EDT<\/p>\n 16th over: Pakistan 48-2 (Imam 19, Shafique 22) A half-volley from Atkinson is driven crisply down the ground for four by Imam, a level-headed player and an excellent judge of which balls to defend and attack.<\/p>\n Atkinson\u2019s spell has been a mixed bag \u2013 a few jaffas, as always, but no sustained rhythm. That\u2019s to be expected given his Hundred campaign only finished on Sunday night.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.18 EDT<\/p>\n 15th over: Pakistan 43-2 (Imam 15, Shafique 21) A terrific stat on Sky Sports: in Robinson\u2019s first seven overs, Pakistan\u2019s batters left only 7% of his deliveries. The interrogation continues when Robinson\u2019s straight his eighth over with successive nipbackers that Shafique inside-edges onto the body.<\/p>\n Robinson has mixed memories of this ground. He bowled beautifully when England beat India in 2021, taking 7\/81 in the match, but a back spasm against Australia two years later ended his Ashes prematurely and put him on the naughty step.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 14th over: Pakistan 42-2 (Imam 15, Shafique 20) Imam uses Fairy Liquid hands to ensure a thick edge off Atkinson lands well short of the slips. Better still, the angle of the bat ensures it flies through the gap for four runs.<\/p>\n Pakistan have played nicely since the resumption, and I reckon it\u2019s time for the kind of anarchy only Josh Tongue can provide.<\/p>\n Abdullah Shafique faces a delivery. Photograph: Colorsport\/Barry Mitchell\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.10 EDT<\/p>\n 13th over: Pakistan 38-2 (Imam 11, Shafique 20) A juicy outswinger from Robinson, his first really poor delivery, is stroked classily to the cover boundary by Shafique. This Headingley pitch looks pretty good, especially now that the sun is out. And Shafique has been impressively positive for a man who walked to the crease with Pakistan 6\/2.<\/p>\n Shafique is walking down the pitch to Robinson to negate any movement, so we might see Jamie Smith up to the stumps pretty soon.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 12th over: Pakistan 31-2 (Imam 11, Shafique 14) There are a few cries of \u2018catch it\u2019 when Imam bat-pads Atkinson round the corner. The ball flies well wide of Emilio Gay at leg gully.<\/p>\n Atkinson ends a pretty good over by straightening an excellent delivery to beat Shafique\u2019s defensive push.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 11th over: Pakistan 28-2 (Imam 8, Shafique 14) Ollie Robinson picks up where he left off, threatening both edges of Imam-ul-Haq\u2019s bat.<\/p>\n An outside edge lands short of the slips, then Robinson beat Imam on the inside and outside. Imam responds with a pleasant on-drive for three.<\/p>\n Ollie Robinson gets back to it. Photograph: Stu Forster\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.04 EDT<\/p>\n 10th over: Pakistan 25-2 (Imam 5, Shafique 14) Shafique guides Atkinson past point for a couple.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Play is about to resume, with two balls of Gus Atkinson\u2019s third over remaining. These are the revised session times:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.44 EDT<\/p>\n \u201cEnjoyed the essay on Curtly Ambrose,\u201d writes Julan Menz. \u201cI started watching Test cricket as a kid in the late 1970s, grew up both admiring and resenting the fearsome West Indies attack. That sheer adrenaline kick of watching an attack strike terror into the hearts of their opponents.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the start of the 1990s that aura had faded somewhat, and my first impressions of the new generation of fast(ish) West Indian bowlers was a bit \u2019meh\u2019 to say the least. How wrong I was, in some ways at least, as it has been a long and frustrating decline since then.<\/p>\n \u201cEdwards, Ambrose, Walsh, Patterson, Clarke, Marshall, Garner, Holding, Roberts, Croft\u2026. Pick your five starters.\u201d<\/p>\n Five! This is impossible\u2026 but I\u2019ll have Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose with the new ball followed by Michael Holding and Joel Garner. And as we have the luxury of a fifth bowler, I\u2019ll choose a wildcard: Patrick Patterson, who at his best was the fastest and scariest of the lot.<\/p>\n My deputy will break the news to Sylvester Clarke.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.46 EDT<\/p>\n Never mind Headingley 1992, Andy Pechey has a more recent boy-on-the-burning-deck story.<\/p>\n double quotation markMy eldest was playing U15s cricket last Thursday, going well on 16 with the team 102\/4 (plus one retired), when his partner ran himself out.<\/p>\n This left Al stranded at the non-striker\u2019s end as a Lancs Pathway leg spinner took four wickets in four balls, all clean bowled, to shut down a promising score. Cricket is a frustrating game!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n In case you missed it, our cricket correspondent Ali Martin answered your questions last Friday. It\u2019s well worth a read.<\/p>\n Ali has been very busy this year: as well as the day job, he\u2019s been working on Chris Woakes\u2019 autobiography<\/a>, The Wizard. It will be published in October and is available for pre-order.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t wait for this, especially the chapter on the 2023 Ashes. The Bazball era ended shambolically, sure, but that series alone made it all worthwhile.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Play to restart at 1.45pm<\/p>\n But more rain is forecast, folks.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n More Headingley 92 memories<\/p>\n \u201cI remember Gower going in No 5, being stranded 18 not out and looking gently shellshocked,\u201d writes James Brough. \u201cAs he said on another occasion, \u201cThe boy stood on the burning deck. Twit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the great batting collapses: 270\/1, 292\/2, 320 all out. Go on, treat yourself<\/a>.*<\/p>\n * And then subscribe to DM Mordecai\u2019s channel, which is possibly the best thing on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Inspection at 1.30pm<\/p>\n Conditions aren\u2019t quite fit for play just yet, but the covers are coming off and there will be an inspection in about 20 minutes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNeil Mallender\u2019s debut was indeed a very impressive one (I remember it well),\u201d says Steve Hudson. \u201cLooking at the lower half of England\u2019s first innings, though<\/a>, also made me smile. Waqar was reversing it, clearly!\u201d<\/p>\n Just a bit. I think Graeme Hick was done by a booming full toss, after which the lower order was detonated. But Mushy played a part too, opening the door by getting Graham Gooch and Mark Ramprakash either side of lunch on day three (I think).<\/p>\n From memory that was the innings in which Ramprakash got out to a premeditated, one of the first signs that international cricket was starting to scramble a brain that had looked so clear during his outstanding debut series against West Indies a year earlier.<\/p>\n That 1992 series against Pakistan is an all-timer. I\u2019d urge anyone unfamiliar with it to seek out the highights on YouTube, especially Lord\u2019s, Headingley and The Oval.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m off for a quick lunch break before the (potential) restart at 1.10pm. I\u2019ll leave you with Geoff Lemon\u2019s post-mortem on one of Test cricket\u2019s greatest upsets.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.52 EDT<\/p>\n \u201cYou can gauge the age of a cricket fan by asking them which players they think of when they hear the phrase \u2018horses-for-courses selection\u2019,\u201d writes Darrieni Bold. \u201cFor me it\u2019s Martin Bicknell and Neil Mallender.<\/p>\n Who were both picked for the first time at Headingley! Mine would also be Mallender, who had a storming debut in his penultimate Test<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Tim de Lisle points out that Ollie Robinson has a peerless strike rate of 19.2 this summer<\/a>. A wicket every 3.1 overs! It makes George Lohmann and Jasprit Bumrah look like a pair of impotent duffers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a very small sample size, of course. And conditions at Lord\u2019s and Headingley have, like Mark Renton\u2019s opium suppositories, been custom-designed for his needs. But it\u2019s a pleasure to watch Robinson at work on the field \u2013 and to see him so at peace off it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.50 EDT<\/p>\n Sign up for the Spin!<\/p>\n On Thursday, the County Championship<\/a> resumes for its final six-week run, charging towards 27 September with barely a pause for breath. It\u2019s tight at the top of Division One, with only 11 points between first placed Nottinghamshire and sixth placed Essex, while Kent and Northants prepare to elbow it out for the second Division Two promotion place alongside almost-inked-in Durham.<\/p>\n The players, on the treadmill since 3 April, and switching between competitions, are run ragged. But no one is as wrung out as the groundstaff, dealing with a summer of fiery extremes, five heatwaves, excruciating temperatures and barely a drop of rain across most of England. In the words of the Met Office scientist Mike Kendon, \u201cthe climate of the 20th century has now gone\u201d but the cricket season is expecting to roll on by as if nothing is happening. The Spin asked three head groundsmen how they are coping.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The scene is much brighter at Headingley, it says here, although I\u2019ve just noticed there\u2019s also a yellow warning for thunderstorms. Who ya gonna believe?<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Play to restart at 1.10pm<\/p>\n Lunch will be taken at 12.30pm, as predicted by Quasimodo over here. If the weather improves, Gus Atkinson and Ollie Robinson will start bowling again at 1.10pm.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cTest cricket is BACK, Rob (it\u2019s barely been away),\u201d writes Guy Hornsby. \u201cAnd I\u2019m really happy for Robinson getting the two early wickets.<\/p>\n \u201cI know Test cricket is eternally dying, but the run through to the WTC next year is mouthwatering. Stacked series across South Africa, England and Australia, and the likes of Zimbabwe playing more than they have for 25+ years.<\/p>\n \u201cI know it\u2019s easy to get gloomy (rightly so), but I feel grateful for what we have right now. It may be the last era of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cEng looking for a new slogan?\u201d says Eamonn Maloney. \u201cFor now, what about Tresco – every little helps? Perhaps the new era will herald the coming of a new style of cricketing communication, \u2018The Flemish dialect\u2019 in which poor performances are explained away via unintelligible guttural sounds. Speaking of Flemish, Benedict Bermange sounds like a Belgian espionage operative.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOn John Snow\u2019s 7\/40,\u201d writes Krishnamoorhy V. \u201cAny statement that starts with 7-for… instantly takes me to those 32 balls in which Curtly Ambrose took 7\/1 against Australia at Perth,\u201d writes Krishnamoorthy V. \u201cYears later, when I saw Curtly Ambrose smiling and joking in a BBC documentary, I was like \u2018this guy can smile…?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n If anyone fancies a lunchtime longread, I wrote a piece on that Ambrose spell<\/a> for the book Supreme Bowling.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.31 EDT<\/p>\n It\u2019s hooning down at Headingley, so don\u2019t be surprised if the umpires take an early lunch at 12.30pm.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s been a mixed start for England. Ollie Robinson bowled a majestic spell of 5-1-12-2, but Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson had radar issues and Joe Root was talked into burning two reviews. They weren\u2019t howlers, far from it, but they did induce a slight feeling of deja vu.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Rain stops play at 23-2<\/p>\n 9.4 overs: Pakistan 23-2 (Imam 5, Shafique 12) The heavens opened during that review and the players are running off the field.<\/p>\n That was an extremely good not-out decision from Allahuddien Paleker, because there was a noise and it was a very persuasive appeal from England.<\/p>\n No rain all summer, then\u2026 Photograph: Darren Staples\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.40 EDT<\/p>\n Shafique is not out!<\/p>\n It missed the bat by a fair way. The noise England heard was the ball brushing the hip, but it was too high for an LBW. England have lost their second review of the morning.<\/p>\n![\"Tanya](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tanya_Aldred.png\")
Tanya Aldred<\/p>\n