Rain-soaked start at Lord's as Pakistan bowls first against England in 2nd test

Audio By Carbonatix

LONDON (AP) — Pakistan won the toss and duly chose to bowl first against England under cloud cover at Lord's in the second test on Thursday.

Play was delayed for 80 minutes because of heavy morning rain. Showers are forecast across all five scheduled days.

England was unchanged from the lineup which won the first test in Leeds last Friday by an innings in three days. England seeks a series victory — its first since December 2024 — before the third and last test in Birmingham in two weeks.

The narrative since Headingley, not long after captain Joe Root dropped the midnight curfew and urged his teammates to act like “grown adults,” was another off-field incident last Saturday when pace bowler Brydon Carse was videoed outside a Derby pub being led away by police in handcuffs. Root was “hacked off,” Carse was dropped from the squad and was being investigated by the cricket regulator.

Returning Pakistan captain Babar Azam has replaced Salman Ali Agha. Agha led the team in Babar’s absence at Headingley. Babar is back after missing the first test because of a finger injury. Pakistan has a good test record at Lord's, winning its last two matches there in 2016 and 2018.

___

Lineups:

England: Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Jordan Cox, Joe Root (captain), Harry Brook, Dan Lawrence, Jamie Smith, Ollie Robinson, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue.

Pakistan: Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (captain), Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Khurram Shahzad, Ali Usman, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Abbas.

___

See AP’s full cricket coverage here