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Sport — Taha Hashim
We’ll have an inspection at 11.10am, says Ian Ward. Sky have just shown the highlights of Pakistan’s win at Lord’s in 2016 … what a game.
Bland, poor, predictable, tired: the weakest Pakistan side to visit England since 1954. The precise adjective hardly matters. When the English press has just watched your batting dissolve before lunch, it tends to grow rather fond of the thesaurus.
And yet history suggests that a thoroughly humiliated Pakistan can be a dangerous thing. Rock bottom has often served less as a resting place than a trampoline: sometimes towards victory, sometimes merely towards a performance that restores the will to live.
Headingley has seldom been especially hospitable. St John’s Wood, however, is different territory. Pakistan have played England 15 times at Lord’s and possess the faintly insolent record of five wins against four defeats, with six draws. For all England’s proprietorial claims upon the Home of Cricket, Pakistan have occasionally behaved there like difficult tenants who have discovered that the landlord cannot legally evict them.
So, with the suzerainty of Lord’s once again at stake, Babar returning to find Inzamam’s great portrait and Pakistan having already located the ocean floor at Headingley, I would hesitate before writing off the men in green.
There is nowhere left for them to go but up, which, admittedly, has never stopped Pakistan from attempting to dig.
Over in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s Sonal Dinusha, just five Tests into his career, is having a staggering series against India.
He’s unbeaten on 98 against Shubman Gill’s side, nearing his third hundred in four innings. Get on this scorecard .
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And gives me a chance to shamelessly plug something I wrote last year.
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It doesn’t look like we’re going to see much happen this morning. A good time to catch up on some preview reading:
Related: England reflect on new late-night drama as Pakistan seek Lord’s revival | Ali Martin
Related: Root reads from same old script in latest episode of England’s off-field soap opera | Simon Burnton
Related: Carse’s night out shows Fleming must get a grip on this England squad immediately | Mark Ramprakash
Hello, hello, hello. It’s been 10 years since Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan side rolled up at Lord’s and put it all together. Misbah, 42, reached three figures and celebrated with … push-ups. Yasir Shah, a wonderful leggie, spun his way to 10 wickets. And Mohammad Amir, who six years earlier had left the same venue in disgrace , went straight through Jake Ball to secure the 75-run victory. They saluted and sparkled, showing England they were up for the contest.
Ten years? Feels longer, especially after what we all saw in Leeds last week. Pakistan were remarkably poor across three days, and England should really wrap up the series this week. Yes, they’ve got to deal with the headlines from some more late-night drama. But they’re used to that, right?
Let’s just all hope that this is more of a game, that the returning Babar Azam unfurls a few on-drives that flick a switch for the tourists, that this Lord’s pitch holds up OK. Annoyingly, the weather forecast isn’t great. You’ll just have to keep me busy with your thoughts, worries, hopes, dreams, recommendations and more.
Bland, poor, predictable, tired: the weakest Pakistan side to visit England since 1954. The precise adjective hardly matters. When the English press has just watched your batting dissolve before lunch, it tends to grow rather fond of the thesaurus.
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Taha Hashim. Published 27 Aug 2026, 09:49 am.
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