Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Robinson leads dominant seam display as England seal series with 194-run win

Ollie Robinson and England appeal in unison for Azan Awais's wicket Philip Brown/Getty Images

England 290 (Smith 61, Cox 55, Abbas 4-73) and 208 (Lawrence 54, Abbas 5-57) beat Pakistan 110 (Awais 46, Robinson 4-11, Archer 3-26) and 194 for 9 (Shakeel 97, Robinson 4-24, Tongue 3-46, Archer 2-73) by 194 runs

Ollie Robinson put in another stellar performance as England won the second Test for an unassailable 2-0 lead in their three-match series with Pakistan at Lord's.

Robinson had been the chief destroyer of Pakistan's first innings, well supported by Jofra Archer, and that was the case once more as England won by 194 runs with a day to spare, their first Test series victory since late 2024 in New Zealand.

Robinson took 4 for 24 to cap staggering match figures of 8 for 35 in 27 overs, while Archer claimed five across both innings. For Pakistan, Saud Shakeel staged a fighting 97 and Mohammad Abbas received the consolation of writing his name on the Lord's honours board with a five-for.

Ultimately Pakistan didn't do enough on the second day. After a good start with the ball - they had England 36 for 3 and 77 for 4 day one - and improved performance in the field, they let last-wicket pair Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson take their side above par at 290 then collapsed in the face of a seam onslaught by Robinson and Archer.

The England bowling duo again did the damage in the fourth innings as Pakistan never threatened the target of 389, lurching to 14 for 3 as Azan Awais, Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam succumbed to them early. Once Tongue had accounted for Shakeel, he cleaned up the Pakistan tail in his familiar fashion.

Shakeel however resisted, reaching a half-century in just 54 balls with a strong drive off Atkinson through long-off for four. This came amid a rare toothless phase for England's bowlers after the lunch break, in which Atkinson conceded 24 runs off his four overs before he was replaced by the offspin of Dan Lawrence.

Shakeel shared a 97-run stand for the fourth wicket with fellow left-hander Shan Masood either side of a 40-minute rain delay, after which Robinson returned to the attack and broke them up. Masood walked across his stumps and was struck on the pad in line, although it took an England review to seal his dismissal.

Robinson had his fourth for the innings and eighth wicket of the match a short time later with a nip-backer to Mohammad Rizwan, who attempted a slog-sweep then failed to overturn his lbw decision on umpire's call.

Shakeel unfurled some excellent strokes amid his 13 fours and two sixes, more than once negating short balls from Archer to good effect and steering a fuller one wide of point. He was struck a nasty blow to the grille of his helmet from a Tongue bouncer, but went to tea unscathed and unbeaten on 78 with Pakistan 140 for 5, still needing 249 runs.

After the break, Archer followed a couple of short balls to Ali Usman by seaming one in from a length and catching the inside-edge onto the stumps.

Shakeel took on a short-ball barrage from Tongue on with twin sixes and a four through the square leg region to move within one more boundary of his century but he fell agonisingly short when he holed out to deep square leg off another Tongue short ball.

Tongue picked up another, Khurram Shahzad bowled by a slower ball, then greeted Mohammad Ali - Pakistan's last batter with Imam-ul-Haq injured - with a 91mph bouncer, followed by another short ball before he was collected by Harry Brook at second slip.

Earlier, Abbas claimed an elusive five-wicket haul at Lord's, ending with nine wickets for the match, including 5 for 57 from 22 overs in England's second innings.

Abbas took four wickets in each innings in his previous Test appearance at Lord's, Pakistan's nine-wicket victory over England in 2018. He also took 4 for 73 in the first innings of this match, so it was with a special sense of satisfaction that he claimed his maiden five-for at the ground.

Lawrence added just four to his overnight score of 50 not out, striking Abbas's sixth ball of the day to the deep point boundary. But he was out in Abbas's next over to a beautiful length delivery that jagged back onto the inside edge then the top of leg stump.

Abbas finally wrote his name on the honours board with one that nipped away from Robinson off a good length and took the outside-edge on the way through to Mohammad Rizwan, who did well standing up to the stumps, his clean take eliciting a roar of celebration from the bowler.

Tongue was the last man out, run out by a brilliant direct hit, not something on most observers' bingo cards given Pakistan's abject fielding performance at Headingley. It was Babar, their captain who missed the first Test with a hand injury, who swooped on Archer's shot into the covers and threw down the stumps.

England's batters had faced their share of trials on a pitch offering generous lateral movement on a gloomy third day but now it was Robinson's turn in the sun.

In the fifth over, he hit Awais on the back pad with a nip-backer bound for leg stump then, three balls later, Robinson angled a beauty in on a length which seamed away past Shafique's outside edge and into the top of off stump.

Robinson and Archer had been devastating in Pakistan's first innings, the former with his unrelenting accuracy and the latter with his searing pace and it was Archer's aggression that did for captain Babar on this occasion. A 91mph bouncer, heading for Babar's throat, hit the shoulder of the bat as he swivelled away then cannoned into his helmet grille before flying high in the air to second slip.

Pakistan 4th innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st7Shan MasoodAzan Awais
2nd0Shan MasoodAbdullah Shafique
3rd7Shan MasoodBabar Azam
4th97Shan MasoodSaud Shakeel
5th4Mohammad RizwanSaud Shakeel
6th31Saud ShakeelAli Usman
7th23Saud ShakeelKhurram Shahzad
8th7Mohammad AbbasKhurram Shahzad
9th18Mohammad AbbasMohammad Ali