Bad light halts play as England fights to 248-9 against Pakistan at Lord’s

LONDON (AP) — England was 248-9 against Pakistan in the Lord’s test when bad light prematurely ended a first day that began late on Thursday.

Half-centuries by Jordan Cox and Jamie Smith underpinned a fighting total after England was threatened at 120-5 to be sunk for under 200.

“A decent enough day for us,” Smith said. “They bowled nicely. It did get a bit easier (to bat) as the ball got softer.”

The start of play was delayed for 80 minutes by heavy morning rain and when returning captain Babar Azam won the toss Pakistan immediately took advantage of muggy conditions under cloud cover.

England lost three wickets in the first hour, including linchpin Joe Root, and Harry Brook departed just before lunch.

Cox held England together as Pakistan’s fielding mixed the sloppy with the sublime.

Pakistan dropped or missed three catches, the most costly involving Smith, whom wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan misjudged on 15. Smith went on to 61.

The sublime were spectacular one-handed diving catches by Rizwan to remove opener Emilio Gay and by Salman Ali Agha, the captain in the first test but dropped for the second to accommodate Babar. Agha, subbing for an injured Imam-ul-Haq, cartwheeled at second slip to finish Cox on 55.

Pace bowler Mohammad Abbas snatched the first three wickets in a lengthy morning eight-over spell, was unrewarded in the afternoon, and returned in the evening to bag Jofra Archer.

Abbas was on the brink of beating teammate Mohammad Ali to a Lord’s five-for when the umpires pulled out the light meter with an hour of scheduled play remaining. Play never restarted. Only 56 overs were bowled.

“This is my favorite ground,” Abbas said. “I played my first test match here in 2018 and was man of the match.”

Babar, recovered from a finger injury, was the only change to a Pakistan team which was humbled in the first test by an innings in three days last Friday in Leeds.

Pakistan has a winning record against England at Lord’s — 5-4 in 15 tests — including its last two appearances in 2016 and 2018, and the rebound from Leeds started with the toss.

Abbas removed Gay, Ben Duckett and Root — pinned on the back leg in the crease — inside 11 overs and claimed his 900th first-class wicket.

Brook, the highest scorer in the first test, left his gate open just seven minutes before lunch and Ali bowled him with a nip-backer on 15.

England limped to lunch four down and struggled in the first hour of the afternoon session in sunshine.

Ali Usman’s spin, backing up Pakistan’s three seamers, did much to grind down England, which went 14 overs without a boundary.

At the first ball after drinks, Dan Lawrence was run out taking off for a single that Cox wasn’t interested in, and turned around too late to beat Shan Masood’s throw.

Smith joined Cox and in bowler-friendly conditions they lifted England out of trouble against the old ball. Cox reached back-to-back test fifties — following 73 in Leeds — with consecutive fours off Usman just before tea.

Smith got his fifty after tea off 63 balls.

Smith made headlines in the winter Ashes series in Australia for poor decisions and one widely criticized dismissal, and was grateful to get his confidence back in the English County Championship, batting up the order.

“Poking and prodding around is never going to be the best version of me,” he said.

Cox’s 105-ball stay was ended by an Agha special, their partnership worth 67 runs. Smith followed on 61 off 80 balls to a nip-backer by Ali, who got two wickets in three balls.

Archer smoked the only six into the members’ pavilion and bad light left last batters Gus Atkinson on 34 not out and Josh Tongue on 1.

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