Test Match Special - Abbas masterclass as Smith stars on day 1

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

Daniel Norcross is alongside former England captain Michael Vaughan, former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja, BBC chief cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew and former England spinner Phil Tufnell to discuss day one of the Second Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's. Hear from half-century hitter Jamie Smith, as well as Muhammed Abbas who took four wickets.Plus, Andy Zaltzman breaks down the day with a stat attack.

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A day that belongs perhaps to neither side or both sides. In total contrast to the entirety of the Headingley Test match where the game never fluctuated once. It was grabbed hold off by England and then they kept their grip on it all the way through from the first ball to the last. Here, Pakistan, upon winning the toss, a good toss to win on what turned out to be quite a lively pitch under Grable. under grey skies. We had a very gloomy morning. There's a lot of rain around. And they made initially the most of that with breakthroughs for Mohammed Abbas. He picked up three early wickets and England have closed though at 248 for nine. It's very hard to know exactly whether that's a good score, a medium score, a bad score.

But luckily I've got Pakistan international cricket and Rami's Rajah. I've got England Captain Michael Warner. I got Jonathan Agnew alongside me to chew the cud. Jonathan, I'll start with you first. 248 for 9. That is a middling score or a good score? Yeah, I think Pakistan looked back at a bit of a missed opportunity. 70 off of 4 with root and brook out. That was an opportunity, wasn't it? The ball nibbling about it.

I mean, it was so humid and oppressive and heavy out there when Baburazam won the toss. There were perfect bowling conditions, grass in the pitch, and a pretty decent attack, especially with Mohammed Abbas, one of the best in the business, probably, for exploiting that. So to get four down and those two out, I think that Pakistan might think they've just missed a chance. So they missed a couple of catches on the way through. But that I think they might have felt they could have bowling that for 170. From there and the two big players out.

So I think I'm giving the day to England actually just. I mean only narrowly, but I think that they'll from having been from that position to get where they are. I think they'll be pretty happy with that. Lunch at 80 for four Rammies, and you must have been absolutely delighted because it was doom and gloom at Headingley. How have you assessed how Pakistan have bounced back in this game today? I think they've done reasonably well because let's not forget, I mean, it's a medium-paced bowling attack. So once the shine is off the new ball, then it becomes difficult for them to roll over teams. That has been the pattern.

So they'd be pretty happy with 248 for 9 because, yes, they had opportunity, window of opportunity. and obviously it was good batting from England in that period where runs had dried up, but they batted sensibly. So, I mean, from where they were on day one, headingly, to 248 for 9, they'd be pretty happy with it, actually. I mean, you mentioned runs dried up, Rames. Michael, is this what post-Basball looks like? Because at 80 for 4, Jordan Cox had got 38 off 38 at that point,

and there'd been a bit of a counter-attack despite the wickets falling. And then after lunch, there was a quite definite go-slow. Jordan Cox at that point got six runs of his next 48 balls. He was joined by Dan Lawrence, who ended up with 17 off 41. They did dig in, didn't they? And that didn't seem like we've ever seen that in the last four years. No, I mean, I think you look at the day's play. And I think England will be absolutely delighted to get to 248 from 70 for four.

I agree with that, because I think Pakistan will probably not accept in that dresser in the minute that they've missed chances and they've kind of let a good season. situation kind of roll away from them. But, you know, I think Jordan Cox looks a fine player. He looks like a very well balanced. He looks to me like he's got the right shots to the better bowlers, which is going to be important when he comes against better attacks. He seems to have the calmest of that.

He'd be disappointed to get out because he got to 50-odd last week and got out. It got us to 50-odd this week and gets out. And your currency is hundreds, you know, whoever you play for. But, you know, I get a feeling that 200, 48. I think that's quite a big score on this kind of pitch. You mentioned Pakistan at and it didn't get past 200. Well, they're going to have to get past 200 in the first things to put this England side under pressure. I just think that extra little bit of pace. Mohammed Dali but ball, a little spell in the afternoon when he started a ball a bit quicker.

And he started to get the ball zipping through. And I just thought, oh, wait a minute, when Joffa is doing that tomorrow and when Josh Tong's doing that tomorrow and Gus Atkinson's doing that tomorrow and Olly Robinson, we know with the new ball will be a major threat. I think there's plenty in this wicket. And I would give this, I wouldn't say that they're a long way ahead of the game in them, but I think they're ahead of the game by the fact that they've got 2.48, and it was really down to Jamie Smith, because Jamie Smith came out and played like the Jamie Smith that we saw at the start of his test career.

It just made it look very, very easy. Both sides of the wicket, really beautifully balanced. And that innings today for James Smith. I mean, there's been, I've read a few articles that, you know, there's a bit of a question mark over Jamie Smith. I don't see that at all in terms of his position in the side. I have watched his keep, and we spoke to Sarah Taylor, pre-match this morning and just basically

congratulate us. You're doing a great job with Jamie Smith because he's keeping's rock solid. You're always going to go through a little period in your test career where you don't quite get the runs. But what I saw in terms of balance today from Jamie Smith, that legside flick, I always think when he's playing that legside flick, he's in a really good position

with his head and he was the key for England today getting to that 248. A battle who make flying starts of their careers as he did. You're going to have a dip. You are going to have a dip. And it's how you come out of that dip, isn't it? And I like the fact that his keeping definitely has been worked on and looks really solid because all rounders, but usually bats from bowling all rounders aren't they but if if one

aspect of the game goes well it generally means that actually the other part does too because you relax a bit and you're not searching you're not looking for trying to find form or whatever it is maybe but one does tend to complement the other and I think it's no surprise that he kept we get really well at Headingly standing up not easy he's working very hard with Sarah Taylor we've we've seen that and now he scores a nice runs too. That's not a coincidence I think. What I want to

highlight though is that it was two test matches ago we were at Trent Bridge and that was after an incident with this is a test match straight after an incident. The way England played at Trent Bridge was almost insane I mean on the last couple of days

it was yes it was it was almost like burning down the church wasn't it? Do you think that the way England batted today is the way that Joe Root wants England to be batting. Yes, and it was at Headingley as well. I think the way they played it Headingley was the Joe Root blueprint. And is that the right one for Test Cricket?

Yes, of course, absolutely it is. You know, when you, I think one of the main criticisms of the last couple of years has been that there has been absolutely no thought of actually getting into the trenches of it and soaking up some pressure and putting pressure on the opposition that way, rather than just blazing away and trying to hack yourself out of trouble this is how you do it in test cricket you get your head down and you work hard

well you know it's intriguing that you're saying that this is a new style of play and I understand where you're coming from because we saw a dogged England batting display mid-afternoon when they suddenly started to bowl nicely Pakistan the left-darn spinnerballed a terrific spell from the pavilion end Mohammed Abbas started to bowl dots you thought

oh this is proper test match cricket they scored at 4.43 throughout the day so they have players that that is been the frustration really in Basbole that because they have players that can catch up quickly, they don't have to always go on the ultra-aggressive approach because you can see off, particularly if you're playing Pakistan, again, I'm not just respecting Mohammed Ali, ball quite nicely at times today.

And Karam Shazad, I think they're okay. But if you're playing Pakistan, you go see off Mohammed Abbas and the left-armes spinner on a pitch like this. He shouldn't be causing too many problems. He might ball two or three good overs and you're not going to score off him. But you kind of know the longer that you play against him, you will get a cut shot and you will get a pull shot because he's not going to be on a big. hanging on that length all day long.

And that's the way that you play against this attack. So I think a bit of sense, but the sensible side of batting at head and he still scored at over 4.4s and the sensible side of bat in here at Lord is scored at 4.43s. It was kind of in flurries though, wasn't it? That was what was interesting because it seemed to respond to the tempo, the requirements of the game. Well, Cox did it, didn't he? I mean, Cox offered a run a ball and then, and then, well, he really dug it. They bowed very well at him, too.

They set good fields. They tried to put pressure on him that way, but he said, no, not having any of this, I'll just keep playing. And that's five days to play a test match, you know. And so I'm much happier with this approach. It's much more likely to bring success. As for Pakistan, Ramiz, you must have been delighted by, a lot of things worked.

You know, the plan for getting out Joe Root, forcing him back into his crease, Rizwan up to the stumps quite early. The moment that Root was on strike, it was clear that was a plan that they were going to do and it was executed perfectly. They got their wicket. They got their reviews.

right yeah they looked like a much more cohesive team that's right and that could be because they've got a leader back playing for them so he's a regular leader Barbarazam that helps also after winning the toss the on us was on Pakistan to make it count and I thought they were really focused in that first session only if they feel it a bit better I mean they allowed a couple of chances to slip through their hands and that caused them a lot of I mean distress in a way because it it broke the rhythm England were looking for a rhythm.

That was broken by some tight bowling, but England did not throw away that partnership by playing recklessly. I think that was the important phase of the day for me, where England just dug in, you know, trench mentality, as Eggers was saying, and making sure that the wicked do not fall. And then when the opportunity came,

because once that ball got older, it became easier to bat. And that's the problem with Pakistan bowling attack. They do not have a 90 miles in our guy who can come back and give you wickets after its 50-overs old. They've also only got three seamers. I mean, it was interesting. I know someone Aliaga is not a seema,

but he's another person who can bowl some overs. And the change in Pakistan's line up today was Bob Aazam came in for the man who'd captained in the previous test and taken out another part-time bowler. I mean, South Shaquil could have been made the 12th man. He didn't look that convincing in that last, but maybe they needed a left-hender out there. But Salman Aliaga, I don't know how he's feeling. Maybe he opted out himself because his progress in test cricket has been below par.

It's a very un-Pakistan bowling attack, is really, isn't it? It is. It's more like sort of Indian bowling attack of the 1970s. Yeah, Madhenglal and Kirsten Ghaveri. Absolutely. There's no reverse swing. There's no pace. Yeah.

It's, it's, I mean, I remember, who was the coach then? Might have been Bob Woolma. Oh, right. So I met him, he had Mohammed Asif with him. And Asif hadn't played a single match for Pakistan. And he introduced me to Asif and he said, he's going to be a great bowler. And my first question to Bob was, how fast is he? He says around 130.

I said he can't be a fast bowler. I mean, Pakistan is renowned for pace. It's another thing that he became a great bowler because of that length that he bowled. But you know, we're so used to seeing 90 miles an hour. and suddenly this is it puts me off completely you know watching Pakistan plays pretty like this yeah so I've been part of the teams where we absolutely derail opposition with sheer pace you know 95 miles in our reverse swinging yorkers bounces I mean the two lengths that we bowled was yorker and bouncer there's no length

bowling as such there's no respite there's no like hang in a second you know we're going to make sure that we don't leak runs in this session nothing of that sort it was we were on the attack all the And this Rames is where the coaches, the captain, and the group have to get together as a whole and realize this is what they've got. So how they're going to compete with what they have is, and I'm staggered that, I keep watching, and Mohammed Rizwan is reluctant to come up to the stumps. That tactic has got Jor root out four times this summer. Joe Rout has been out LBW eight times in his last seven test matches. Joe Rit walks out there to face Mohammed Abbas and Rizwan's back. I'm looking at that going tactically, what are you doing?

It came up today, though, didn't he? But not right at the start. You know, he is reluctant to come up to the stumps. You know, why isn't he up to the stumps to Karam Shazad at times? To Mohammed Ali at times. You looked at Blundell for New Zealand. He was up to all their seamers. You know, Miami's not slow.

And he was up there because he knew it was a right tactic to deliver. And if Pakistan are going to continue to go with this kind of pace, with this kind of skill set, I think that's something that Rizwan is going to have to buy into for the team to become that kind of leader of the gang. You know, you've got to create a theatre and I think, you know, that's a brook and Joe have struggled with that tactic all summer and they seem reluctant to try and produce it against this England side. Michael, Ramez, we need to let you both go because you have other duties to perform just to run you through that scorecard. Amedio Gay is becoming a little bit of a concern. The manner of his dismissal caught down the leg side doesn't really indicate whether he's got a

particular technical floor but his head's just going a bit. His head is just going to that off. but he's got some lovely shots you know I mean I really hope I really hope he gets a score and break through because his offside strokes are beautiful I played a couple of lovely cover drives today didn't he Phil Tufnos just joined us and Ben Duckett looked quite sprightly for his 17 and an amazing LBW decision I mean I don't think anybody watching it thought it was out then when we saw the replay we thought it wasn't out and then it turned out that this board defied the laws of physics and we're gonna hit the top of off stuff so poor old Ben Duckett wandered off shaking his head Joe Root we've discussed and done basically by the ball, been doing him time and time again. Harry Brooke played a pretty sort of measured knock again today. A loose shot at the end. A loose shot at the end, but batting in difficult conditions. Dan Lawrence, 17 off 41.

You've mentioned Jamie Smith as a cameo from Gus Atkinson. A couple of quick wickets. The best shot of the day. Joffre Archer, six into the pavilion, probably. Tough, that took our breath away, didn't it? Well, absolutely. He just decided to pop out of the bunker and just pop him straight back over mid-off's head, wasn't it? Yeah, great shot.

But yeah, I think they'll be happy, Pakistan. But just as you say, I was listening earlier, John, you know, just a slight missed opportunity. You always get the feeling when you see a fielding side where they sort of are, aren't there? Okay, it was a fantastic catch and a runout, but just a little bit sloppy in those areas. But a good day's cricket, considering we thought it was going to be raining all that. Get more with BBC Podcasts, wherever you listen. Be the first to listen to your favourite shows, like evil genius, good, bad billionaire,

and You're Dead to Me, with a subscription to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts ad-free with an Amazon music subscription. But also, from where they were. You see, this is a thing. And I do understand where you're coming from. 248 for 9 does feel on this surface

with England's bowling attack and, crucially, with Pakistan, batting. up that's going to be quite a formidable score perhaps but where Pakistan were if we go back to the end of the Headingley test I mean I was just reading nothing but despair I was listening to poor Artif and Rami's on air of reading Daniel Razzul in Crick info every every article of his I mean I think the latest one finished with the word abyss which was where it described Pakistan as opposed to Abbas so I think I'm interviewing tomorrow right well it's sometimes you need a little bit on your side don't

you and Pakistan got that this morning. We're all thinking coming away from that. The only way that this Pakistan side can come back into this series is by winning the toss and on a bit of an overcast day and getting a few out. That's what happened. Well, one of the people who took those early wickets is with Alison Mitchell.

She's with Mohammed Abbas. Mohammed, well bowled today. You enjoy bowling here at Lords, don't you? Yeah, obviously this is my favourite ground. I played the first test match at 2018. So I was man of the match. So after that, I came here with Leicestershire. So I'm always enjoying bowling here.

When the coin toss went up and Baba Azam had the choice, it sounded like it was a clear-cut decision to bowl first today. Yes, I think the pitch was covered. The rain was early morning till almost midday. So that's why we were thinking, so we will choose ball first. Has the day gone according to your plan, albeit a couple of dropped catches, but the wickets kept falling? Yeah, this is part of cricket.

We are not remembering those things. As a professional, we have to think, look forward and just keep going. And it must have felt like a bit of a dream score when you had England four down going into the lunch break. Yes, we were very happy and we had a meeting upstairs. So our coach had just strict to the plan and bowled out as soon as possible. So we tried well, but I think this. scored a little bit more.

I think the Smith played well, but still we are happy. So they are nine down right now. Joe Root is always a huge wicket to get. How much planning has gone into that idea of Mahad Rizwan coming up to the stumps to Joe Root in particular? Yeah, he's a little bit struggling. He's a big player. So always when we are getting his wicket, so always very good for the opposition.

So we had a plan about him. and every player, so we got success from there. How is it that you get so much control over the ball? What is your particular attribute that enable you to move the ball in the way that you do? To be honest, I played lots of cricket, almost 220 first class cricket and around 30 odd test matches.

So we are playing domestic cricket in Pakistan different cities in different conditions and I am playing county cricket here in different conditions so I took lots of things from there so these things are helping me in in Teas cricket. What do you think your biggest learnings have been from your stints with Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire? Yes it's been very good. I came first time with Leicester So I played one game, then I played test matches. After that, two years I spent there.

And after that I played, I spent four years at Hampshire, so I took lots of experience from there. Our bowling attack was good. And last year, I was more than happy because we were the champion when I was with Nottinghamshire. Right now I am working with Mickey Arthur. He was with us when we played here. So I took experience from there.

So I'm trying to give everything in test cricket. And are you able to pass some of that experience onto the other bowlers in your unit who perhaps haven't bowled so much in England? Yes, I am as a senior. So I am thinking, so these guys are my small brothers. So I am giving the things who I get from first class cricket and from county cricket and just I am asking them, so just assess the conditions and ball accordingly. Even we are just testing with each other in practice and in the games as well. And just looking ahead to tomorrow, it'll be the batters opportunity.

You felt that Jamie Smith batted well, England maybe got a few more than you would have liked today. What do you think the batters will have learned from watching the way England went about it today? I just spent time on the pitch. I think they took some experience from the last game as well. So they are thinking about the mistakes. They will learn and they will put score on the board so then we can ball again. Good luck tomorrow. Well done today. Thank you.

There was Mohammed Abbas with Alison Mitchell. He seems pretty happy. He's a leader of the attack. He's got all these learnings from playing in county cricket. He's a character. He's a character as well, isn't he? I love the fact there he is 76, 77 miles an hour. He's chirping away at the bats. It's like a little terrier, isn't he's there all the time

and he's nibbling about on a length. Terrific bowler. It really is. A bit of old school, John, really, isn't it? You know, it's just, come on. Derek Shackleton. Yeah, at the top of off-stom and what are you going to do about that? Well, also, actually, also, to get to Mammard Asif, which was mentioned by Ram earlier,

similar pace, and he does most of his work in the last couple of yards, doesn't he? It's what happens at the end. But I go back to the point you made it, this is a very un-Pakistan attack. I mean, how are they going to bowl people out in Pakistan on those pitches? with an attack like this, you know, they've got some problems. They've got to find some pace. They've got to find a reverse swing. No, absolutely.

I mean, I mean, the great bowlers from Pakistan didn't really use the surface, did they? They sort of cut them out. Fast full bang, is it? They've all, did it? All going all the back to Asif Masud coming in off his bendy run down here. You know, they've always had fast bowlers. And they're not at the wind. As well.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, they baked the pitches the last time they played England. And that was how they decided it was going to work there, Sajid Khan and whatnot, but that's not going to work here, is it? No. Just a quick word on the pitch, though, because when we came here, there was the spectre of the pitch against New Zealand hanging over our heads. It's a very different looking surface, which was, I'm not saying it's a surprise. You'd expect it to be very different after all the hull of blue, but we've had a very, very dry summer. And actually, we turned up and found really quite a green, grassy pitch, didn't we?

Yeah. I mean, I'd have a bit of thing about pitches because there's what 20 pitches, probably more than that out there and a ground zone can produce what he wants. So I've always felt a little bit awkward about data for runs on

a pitch because it's probably a different pitch prepared in a different way to the one that was played on the year before. This is three strips away from the one that New Zealand was played on, but it does look completely different. The one, I really, I went out there for the toss for the New Zealand match, I thought, what is that? But of course, they'd had

they'd had so much rain they couldn't get on it I think it's more I don't know anything about being a groundsman but I suspect it's probably easier when you've had hot dry weather but access to water which lords clearly have because you can see it because you can control things a bit more then you can see a forecast and you know it's going to be dry so therefore you're safe watering but when there's this rain and rain and rain you don't know when it's not going to rain and when it's going to stop I think that's probably more difficult as a groundsman to plot a test match starting on that that particular day and that's that's what they had against New Zealand but it did

look a it did look a very odd strip whereas this looks like a normal pitch to me albeit with quite a lot of grass on it Lord's I found having played here for 20 odd years it goes through phases Lord's you know sometimes it's like a human condition well yeah no it does it sort of it changes Lord you know overhead conditions you can almost feel it when there's a cloud brewing up all of a sudden it does a little bit well it did didn't it later today when the clouds came over yeah so it's one of It's one of those pitches that's always had that little bit of slope on it. And so when there is just something that's not quite right, it seems to accentuate it, doesn't it?

But because the team got bowled out for 350 last year, it doesn't mean to say someone's going to score 350 this year, does it? Absolutely. It's completely different. It is. Every time you turn up to Lord, you're not quite sure. I mean, I saw Joe Rook got a fantastic 180 all those years ago. You know, Smith getting double hundreds here. You know, it goes through sort of quiet periods and then all of a sudden it just seems to come

live. Do you think this is one of those ones that's going to get better? Like we saw in the World Test Campers at vital last year. Unlike me. I mean it might be a bit drier and a bit easier tomorrow, I'd have thought. But there's rain again due on Wednesday or Saturday. So you just feel that the weather actually could play quite a part in the conditions for this match all the way through, given that there is quite a decent covering of green grass on there. I don't think we're going to see a brown strip at the end. I think it's always going to be nibbling around. And we were commenting, we saw a lot of shots that you're sort of looking to play through sort of like a mid-wicked or a mid-on that just all of a sudden sort of hit an outside edge and go to cover.

So that night just be a little bit stoppy, so it might quicken up a little bit tomorrow. I think it will. Well, before we say goodbye, we could get Jamie Smith, who's been speaking to Alison Mitchell. Jamie, well-batted today. What is your assessment of the overall day for England? Yeah, I guess overall it's been a good day for us. Being inserted on that surface. I think we knew that it'd be a little bit tricky.

Lord's always a bit tricky at times with the over-air conditions and the ball seemed to do enough throughout the day's play there and also credit to Pakistan, I thought they bowled nicely. Took a few early wickets up top, which puts under a bit of pressure. But yeah, overall, very pleased to be in that position. What was the feeling at the lunch break when Harry Booker just got out and your four down early like that? Well, the dressing's always quite relaxed and quite cheer.

I think we sort of knew that there was enough in the surface. So I guess it was sort of a game plan to come up with from the batting. unit who still had to bat there of how we're going to go about our innings and put a score on the board knowing that, you know, when we come around to have a ball in hand, there'll be enough in the surface, hopefully, that we can sort of look to exploit. What was the key to success batting on that pitch in the way that you did? Riding your luck a little bit of times, definitely. I think it's not the sort of surface where you sort of feel you're always in and you can go and play shots some sort of ball one. You have to sort of ride it out a little bit of times and you

know you're going to play a miss and they're going to bowl some good balls. But when you get the opportunity to score, you sort of have to make it count and I guess take a little bit of a risk at times to either drive a ball that might not be there or try and find some whip somewhere to score off. As I said, credit to Pakistan, they bowled really nicely and kept it quite tight throughout the day. Your partnership with Jordan Cox was the best of the match. Do you feel you've got enough runs at the moment to have Pakistan feeling under pressure when it's their turn? Yeah, I guess so any time that you're nine down and then the play, I hope you can eke out a little bit more of a partnership in the morning. And then, yeah, as I said, it'd be quite crucial when we

come to ball that we can pick up early wickets and put them under a bit of pressure. It seemed to be the best time to ball and it got slightly easy as the ball got a bit softer and the day went on. So yeah, hopefully we can make it count early on. You had such a fast start your career with the bat. Have you felt over the recent innings that you want to be getting some more big schools under your belt? Yeah, it's been a well-registered fact, I guess, for myself that I haven't quite got the runs in it in a short period of time that I would have liked.

So, yeah, to get a 50 today and a little bit more rhythm in my batting, I think that was the most important thing. I didn't feel great at the start, and I feel I sort of built into it as the innings went on. So slightly disappointed to get out when I felt I was batting on my best, but to contribute and to put a score on the board is what your currency is as a batsman, so it's nice to finish on 60-year.

And to talk about your keeping as well, notable that Sarah Taylor's become part of the England setup, and she says she really enjoys working with you. Is it a feeling mutual? Yeah, absolutely. She's been fantastic since coming into the environment. I think everyone's really enjoyed work of her, not just me keeping-wise, but also,

the rest of the fielding unit as well. But yeah, it's been great to work for over a six months period, if you like, and also a training camp so far. I feel like I've improved a little bit on my keeping so far, and hopefully it's a project we like to see it as of saying, hopefully in years to come that will keep improving, and at the moment it's showing small signs of that. And what are those elements in particular around your keeping?

I think it's well documented. Standing up to the stumps against seamers seems to be a tactic used by most at the moment. That's the trend that we're seeing. trying to do that which will hopefully, you know, help impact wickets. And that's the main thing is how we can help the bowling unit take 20 wickets to win a test match. And if that means coming up to the stumps and putting yourself in slightly uncomfortable positions, if at the end of the day it's helping bowlers take wickets, it's the most important thing. For those who don't keep wicket and don't know what it is like,

how different is it? How much training have you had to do in order to stand up? Yeah, I mean, it's quite hard to replicate standing up at times to people at bowling, you know, 83, 84 mile an hour. It was certainly eye opening a Trent Bridge, against New Zealand standing up to Ben Stokes and Gus Hackinson for a sustained period of time. It's not saying that you do it every day. I'm not sure your fingers would be too happy if you did it every day as well. So it's just trying to get yourself in a position where you feel confident of catching the ball.

And again, you feel as though you're a part of it and you're the one making an impact to take a wicket. And is that something that England batters are sort of practicing almost with you standing up in the nets as well? Because it's obviously been effective ploy for Joe Root with the keeper standing up. Yeah, I mean, I think that all our batting, when they come to their training, I think they're quite specific to the opposition and what the opposition are going to throw at them. So it's definitely that sort of, you know,

83 bowler, you know, bowling at the top of the stumps, nipping around. That's sort of been the way that a lot of the guys have been training, especially for the games that have been upcoming and the games that are going to keep coming for England at the moment. So they've been working hard at that, and they'll continue to do so, yeah. Can we expect to see you standing up to the stumps quite a bit on this pitch

when it comes to your turn tomorrow? Hopefully so. I think if that's the way the ball's nipping around, that would definitely help bring in sort of bowled in LBW. I think that's the main thing and we've already seen that's quite a common mode of dismissal so far today. So hopefully that will just keep improving as the game goes on. Best elect tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you.

That was a very happy Jamie Smith talking to Alison Mitchell. He batted very well today. Jamie Smith did just the job that England wanted to do down at number seven and was certainly the most fluid to England's batters today. Notwithstanding Jordan Cox's first 38 runs. I've got Andy Zaltzman alongside me. What statistical oddities have you found today? Well, let's start with Smith. That was his highest score in his last 12 tests since he had an extraordinary game.

edgebaston against India last year when he made 184, not out, and 88 in the match, which from memory was the most run-ever by a wicket-keeper in a test match. Jordan Cox, another good innings from him, 55, back-to-back 50s. He's reached 25 in his first four innings of his test career, and in the last 50 years, only two other England players have done that, Jonathan Trott and David Gower. That's going back to David Steele, he did it in just over 50 years ago. So those are the two big pluses for England with the bat. Joe Root, LBW again, as Michael mentioned, a short while ago.

That's the eighth time in his last seven tests he's been out LBW to a seamer. Once every 89 balls of seam that he's faced since the start of the Melbourne test, he's been out LBW. And to put that in context. And to put that in context, he'd been LBW to a fast bowler just three times once every 1,137 balls. So yes, a bit of a technical glitch. We talked about the last four have all been with the wicket-keeper standing up.

The first four in that sequence were with the keeper standing back. So, yeah, I don't know quite how to interpret that. Have people worked out wobble team? Because it seems that it's the knit backer that's getting him time and time again. And he's doing quite a lot of people at the moment. Yes, but that's been around for a while. And obviously, he wasn't working against him previously. But anyway, those are the numbers en route and his pads.

Mohammed Abbas, three wickets in his opening spell, including route. Looking at opposition opening bowlers, we've taken three wickets in the opening spell of a test in England. The last to do so was Tim Murta for Ireland on this ground out of five for 13 opening spell in the first innings of the match. So this is just looking at the opening and innings of the match. Before that, Mohammed Asif in 2006 at the Oval, three for 39. And the list of bowlers before that since the early 70s, some of the greats of bowling. Courtney Walsh, Glenn McGraw, Imran Khan, Capald, Terry Alderman, Colin Croft, Dennis Lilly. And that takes us back to Bob Massey in the match in 1972 here.

And he took eight in both innings, including three wickets in his opening spell on the first. The first day, Mohammed Ali hit the stumps twice in the 50 third over. And that's the second earliest in the Lord's test that anyone's hit. the stumps twice in and over. The only bowler. It does sting like a bee after all. Yeah, the only bowler who's done so earlier in a test match, Dan, would you believe? Mohammed Nissar for India in their first test at Lords in 1932, bowled out two players in the third over of the game. I remember it well. So, yeah, so again, it's hard to interpret this and we talk about Lord, recent pitches at Lords. This is sort of in line with the trend over the last 15 tests we've seen around about 26 runs per Wicked at Lords and a Wicked every 46, 406, 40.

47 balls. So this 248 for 9 in 56 overs in line with that. And to just to sort of highlight that is that 46.7 balls per wicket at lords in the last 15 tests before this one. The lowest such figure ever at a test ground over a 15 test sequence. It has been a very difficult place to bat. So 248 for nine might prove to be a useful score. It might but I dare say the authorities here will be delighted. It's probably not going to be a 160 overmatch and at the very least, especially with a bit of weather around. We're going to get to a third. day you'd imagine. Well just on the the Pakistan Seamus the lateral movement, the ball tracking data shows that they've they've had the third most out of the 41 innings first innings of tests in the database at Lords so so they have we're getting a lot of lateral movement off the pitch not so much in the air so again that suggests that score might not be too bad. Well and it also suggests it could be hard work for Pakistan tomorrow against England's quartet of Seamas. The TMS

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