Archer Strikes as Pakistan Crumble to 110 All Out at Lord's
Pakistan collapsed to 110 all out in 37 overs on day two of the second Test at Lord's, undone by an England pace attack led by Jofra Archer's three for 26 (The Guardian).
England had earlier been dismissed for 290 in 66.4 overs (ESPNcricinfo). That left them a first-innings lead of 180 — a commanding position in a Test match, where teams bat twice and the aggregate of both innings decides the winner (Geo TV; The Guardian).
Archer, bowling from the Pavilion End, closed the innings by bowling Mohammad Abbas for three. Abbas, a 36-year-old tailender — one of the lower-order batters not expected to score heavily — could only watch the ball pass his defensive bat. Mohammad Ali remained unbeaten on three at the other end (The Guardian; Geo TV).
For Archer, the 30-year-old right-arm fast bowler, this series marks a return to the Test arena after a four-year absence (ECB). Persistent injury troubles had kept him out of the longest format since 2022. His 11.2 overs here were his most meaningful contribution in whites in that time, and the Lord's crowd responded accordingly.
The match is the second of the Rothesay Test series between England and Pakistan, which began at Headingley on 19 August 2026 (ECB). England won that opening Test by an innings and 103 runs (Reuters). The second Test at Lord's started on 27 August and is scheduled to run through 31 August (ESPNcricinfo).
England ultimately won this match by an innings and 103 runs — the same margin as the first Test — to take the series 2-0 (ESPNcricinfo). An innings victory means one side scores so many more runs in a single innings that the opponents cannot match the total across both of theirs, making the second innings unnecessary.
For Pakistan, the scorecard tells a grim story. Nine wickets fell for 110 runs across 37 overs — roughly three runs per over, a rate that puts any batting side under suffocating pressure in a format where survival, not scoring, is often the first job. Archer shared the wickets with the rest of England's pace battery, and Pakistan never built a partnership substantial enough to shift momentum.
What makes this stand out is the symmetry of the two results. England won both Tests by an innings and 103 runs — identical margins at different grounds, weeks apart. Archer's return gives England's attack a different edge heading into the rest of the home summer, and Pakistan will need to find answers quickly if they are to be competitive in whatever comes next on this tour.
