England vs Pakistan: Jamie Smith and Jordan Cox battle in second Test at Lord’s

For England, the chance to win their first Test series since 2024 comes after yet another off-field drinking incident.

Carse was removed from the squad for this Test after a night out in Derby on Saturday, with police investigating allegations of an assault. Carse is in the Durham side for their ongoing County Championship match against Gloucestershire.

The home side steamrollered Pakistan at Headingley in Joe Root’s first Test back as captain. It was always likely Pakistan would improve on their performance from Leeds, simply because the tourists could not play much worse.

Pakistan were boosted by the return of captain Babar Azam from a hand injury, in the side for Salman Ali Agha who skippered in Leeds. Babar’s first impact was to call correctly and play finally got under way at 12:20 BST.

The tourists’ trio of fast-medium seamers were ideally suited to the conditions and they showed much greater control than last week.

England were sometimes wasteful – Dan Lawrence ran himself out and Harry Brook was bowled driving – and sometimes unlucky – Emilio Gay was caught down the leg side. For the most part, the batters were happy to roll up their sleeves, another encouraging sign early in Root’s second reign.

The result was a compelling contest, an arm wrestle with neither side ever able to claim they held the upper hand.

England’s total seems at least competitive, yet Pakistan have the chance to gain a foothold if they bat well. This could turn into a tight Test.