England v Pakistan: first Test, day three – live

Key events

On this day in 1986… Ian Botham writes his own script.

Jordan Cox was one of four half-centurions as England maintained control of the first Test against Pakistan – but there were a few regrets as no one reached three figures on day two in Leeds.

“We were hoping one of us would have kicked on and instead of make it just a hundred, make it 150, 160, 170,” said Cox, who hit 73 in his first Test innings at No 3. “And then the game looks, not completely different, but it puts us in definitely a better position.”

Nonetheless, England look primed to take a series lead. Harry Brook top-scored with 91 as Joe Root and Dan Lawrence hit 66 and 51, respectively, after rain delayed the start of play until 2.45pm. England closed on 366 for eight, extending their first-innings lead to 195.

Ali Usman was the one positive on another tough day for Pakistan, with the left-arm spinner claiming five for 92. “Hopefully, the boys can get 50 runs tomorrow,” said Cox. “You never know, we’ve still got Jamie [Smith] at the crease there and Jofra [Archer], who can still give it a good whack. So hopefully 50-odd runs and then get to our work.”

“I was browsing the changes to the laws of cricket which will come into effect in October,” begins Andrew Goudie, “and I noticed ‘If the striker hits the ball straight, it rebounds off the stumps at the bowler’s end, and rebounds to the striker’s wicket, it will no longer be out Bowled.’ Who knew?

“There’s also a great example of things nobody wants to see except everybody: ‘if a batter were to celebrate the winning hit from the last ball of the match by punching the bowler in the face, they would subsequently lose the match’, which made me think that somebody at Lord’s has been reading old episodes of ‘You Are The Ref‘ featuring a former England and Manchester United full back.”

When Jordan Cox was 19, playing in his fifth first-class match and unbeaten overnight on 167 for Kent against Sussex, he decided to set himself a new task. Cox told Sam Billings, his captain and an England international, that he would go past Billings’ first-class best of 171. The top scores of other teammates were in sight, too. “I was just ticking people off,” Cox said a few weeks later. “Having a higher score than Sam Billings and Joe Denly at 19, that’s what got me going.” Denly, an England No 3, had a best of 227. Cox finished on 238 not out.

Six years on, that confidence and bit of swagger made its way to Leeds, with Cox resuming on 23 after England’s near-perfect Wednesday. There were no visible nerves, no rollerskates on the feet. A few gentle taps of the ground, a small shift on to the back foot and then plenty of time before he presented the middle. He looked on holiday while batting in only his second Test, and that too with the responsibility of building a first-innings lead at first drop. Joe Root, 167 Tests in, was at the other end and Cox did not look out of place alongside his captain. The pair have done a bit of this now. Just last week they were decked out in red, trying to launch it together in the Hundred. Strong Welsh Fire, strong England?

Ali Martin’s day two report

The clock had just ticked past 7pm, there was still half an hour of play left on this soggy second day, and it looked for all money that Harry Brook would end a year-long wait for his 11th Test century with a first at his home ground of Headingley.

Brook had agonisingly missed out by one run against India here last summer. And this time, against a ragged Pakistan side that had handed him a life second ball amid another outing to forget, the box was practically begging to be ticked.

And then it happened. With 91 runs to his name, Brook rocked back and went to push the left-arm spin of Ali Usman through vacant midwicket only to swipe at fresh air and hear the ball cannon on to his stumps. Brook came into this match as the world’s No 1-ranked batter but this particular local peak remains elusive.

For all that Brook was cursing himself back in the dressing room, and Usman struck twice more before stumps – he ended the day with five for 92 – it was not hugely damaging to England’s position. At stumps Joe Root’s side had progressed to 366 for eight, and a lead of 195 runs, wi

The weather forecast, since you asked, is pretty good. AccuWeather, the dog walker’s best friend, predicts “bright periods with a brief shower or two this afternoon”.

Preamble

When some sad loner writes the book on the 1000 greatest Test matches – don’t worry, I’m on it – England v Pakistan at Headingley in 2026 will not be a contender. Sure, there’s a chance of Ali Usman giving England a nasty, Multan 2005-style surprise in fourth innings, but right now it looks like a one-sided game of lowish quality.

England will resume on 366 for 8, a lead of 195, after a productive but frustrating second day on which Jordan Cox, Joe Root, Harry Brook and Dan Lawrence all failed to convert fifties into hundreds. As the Telegraph’s Rob Bagchi put it, England have entered the era of daddy fifties.

It was a shame for Cox and Lawrence in particular, but there’s a bigger picture to consider. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good, not when you’ve lost seven of the last nine Tests. In the current climate, a forgettable victory would be preferable to another memorable defeat.