Last Updated on 1 minute ago by Charbel Coorey
Pakistan’s summer of woe has continued, with Michael Vaughan joining the chorus of criticism aimed at the tourists. After the likes of Stuart Broad and Nasser Hussain were particularly blunt about this Pakistan team’s credentials, the visitors were rolled for 110 on a nightmare second day at Lord’s.
England, on 248/9 overnight, added a further 42 runs on Friday morning against wayward bowling in a sign of things to come. Gus Atkinson (45) and Josh Tongue (30*) added 47 for the final wicket to take England to 290 – a very competitive score having been sent in on a pitch offering seam movement.
Pakistan, like at Headingley, struggled with the bat. They unfurled some lovely cover drives throughout the innings, but they were only flickering bright spots in a dark day. Jofra Archer breathed fire with pace, while Ollie Robinson was at his best in conditions he dreams of. The latter finished with figures of 4/11 off 13 overs as Archer (3/26) and Josh Tongue (2/27) also improved their career averages.
Michael Vaughan: England pacers bowling well, but they are not challenged by Pakistan
Michael Vaughan didn’t mince his words when speaking about the proceedings on day two. He praised the England attack for how they are operating as a unit, but with the ceveat that tougher tests await.
“It’s a good attack and it’s got a huge amount of potential because I think they can all get better,” Vaughan said on BBC’s Test Match Special. “That’s a really good sign for English cricket when you’ve got four bowlers bowling nicely but you know there’s a little bit more in the tank.
“I’ll be brutally honest, they’re not getting challenged at all, and this Pakistan batting lineup is possibly the easiest batting lineup that I’ve seen for a long period of time to bowl to.
“And not only that, I think as a bowler – Aggers will tell you more – I think they’re all queuing up to bowl because they know there’s wickets out there. You’re not going to get hurt.”
Pakistan were dismissed for 110 in 37.2 overs with only Azam Awais (46) offering any meaningful resistance. Robinson and Archer in particular were on song, with the former nipping the ball both ways and causing Pakistan all kinds of trouble.
Vaughan expects this England attack to challenge higher-ranked opponents, but lamented Pakistan’s batting approach and depth, even going as far to compare them to a County Championship Division Two team. It is another blow in a series where the visitors have also been described as the worst Pakistan team in 50 years.
“They’re [the England bowlers] still doing a good job, and they’re still looking very threatening. And I think this attack bowling, the way that they’re doing, will challenge better batting lineups if they continue in this fashion. No doubt they’re going to challenge the likes of South Africa, Australia, Next summer. I, I think they’ll challenge the Aussie batting lineup quite, quite nicely if they bowl like this,” Vaughan said.
“But, oh, this Pakistan batting— is it second division county cricket? I’ll ask you, you watch a lot of county cricket. There’s no way that they’re batting in any standard to say that that is a Test match batting lineup.”
England will begin day three on 81/3, leading by 261 runs. Emilio Gay (30*) and Harry Brook (7*) are the unbeaten batsmen.
