Yesterday’s cricket talking points were dominated by a single spell of seam bowling in north-west London, where Mohammad Abbas dragged Pakistan back into a series that had looked over inside three days at Headingley. Around it sat a police investigation, a broadcasting row that reached the Foreign Office, and a County Championship day that shifted both title and promotion races. Thursday 27 August was not a quiet day in cricket.
The biggest of yesterday’s cricket talking points: Abbas 4-56 at Lord’s
Pakistan won a rain-delayed toss, bowled, and had England 36 for 3 with Abbas removing Emilio Gay, Ben Duckett and Joe Root. ESPNcricinfo reported that Abbas finished with 4-56 and Mohammad Ali with 3-67, the latter accounting for Harry Brook, Jamie Smith and Ollie Robinson with deliveries that nipped back off a slow, nibbling surface. Abbas also claimed his 900th first-class wicket along the way, having Duckett given out on review after an on-field not-out call.
That England reached 248 for 9 from 56 overs before bad light ended the day owed almost everything to two innings. Smith made 61 and Jordan Cox, batting at No. 3 in only his third Test, made a disciplined 55, the pair adding 67 for the sixth wicket after the innings had sagged to 77 for 4. Gus Atkinson’s unbeaten 34 was a useful late cameo. BBC Sport noted Pakistan dropped three catches, which may yet prove the difference on a pitch England’s captain, Joe Root, had described as more batter-friendly than the overhead conditions suggested.
The value of 248 is unknowable until Pakistan bat, and more rain is forecast for the next three days. But a touring side beaten by an innings and 103 runs in the first Test has at least turned up. That is the story of the day.
Brydon Carse: a police investigation, and Durham keep picking him
The off-field story England cannot shake grew heavier. Derbyshire Police confirmed they are investigating allegations of an assault in Derby city centre following the incident in which Carse, 31, was handcuffed outside a bar in the early hours of Sunday. He had been briefly arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly before being de-arrested; no arrests have been made in the assault inquiry. Carse was removed from the England squad for this Test after the Cricket Regulator opened its own investigation.
Durham, meanwhile, selected him. Coach Ryan Campbell told BBC Sport the club will keep picking Carse unless told otherwise, adding that the bowler “feels he’s let the group down”. Carse took 2-51 against Gloucestershire on Thursday. The regulator’s process is expected to be delayed while the police inquiry runs, which in practice keeps a 58-cap international available to his county and unavailable to his country — an awkward position for everyone, and one ReadCricket examined when Carse was first dropped from the Lord’s squad.
Broad and Anderson call England’s conduct “extreme and tiresome”
The most quotable intervention came from two men who no longer play. Speaking at the unveiling of a joint portrait at Lord’s, Stuart Broad told the Guardian: “Eight of the 30 centrally contracted players have now been reprimanded or involved and that is quite extreme and actually quite tiresome.” James Anderson, England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, called it “just mind-numbing that people can still be putting themselves in these positions”.
Broad also singled out Root, saying the captain “spoke beautifully on this and is a brilliant example of how to do it” — a pointed framing with South Africa away this winter and an Ashes summer to follow. Michael Vaughan and Jonathan Agnew were less forgiving on Test Match Special, criticising what Vaughan characterised as England’s excuses. The pattern, rather than any single night out, is now the story, as eight incidents in ten months makes plain.
The PCB, Sky and the Imran Khan interview
Day one also produced a genuine diplomatic incident. The Pakistan Cricket Board lodged a formal complaint with Sky Sports after the broadcaster aired Michael Atherton’s interview with Kasim and Sulaiman Khan, sons of the jailed former Pakistan captain and prime minister Imran Khan, during the rain-delayed lunch break. The Guardian reported that PCB officials briefly threatened to keep their players off the field after the interval before the ECB talked them round, and that the board has raised the matter with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The complication is structural: the PCB chair, Mohsin Naqvi, is also Pakistan’s interior minister. Sky did not back down, the sessions went ahead, and the ECB has been given assurances Pakistan will play on Friday. ReadCricket covered the row in full as the PCB’s Sky Sports complaint unfolded.
Babar returns, and the ECB looks at free-to-air
Pakistan made one change from Headingley: Babar Azam, passed fit after a hand injury, came back in as captain, with the stand-in skipper Salman Agha making way. Given Pakistan’s improvement with the ball and in the field, it was a change that coincided with a much better performance, if not obviously the cause of it.
Away from the ground, the Guardian’s Matt Hughes reported that the ECB will offer more free-to-air packages in the rights cycle beginning in 2029, with ITV — subject to Comcast’s £1.6bn takeover completing — open to showing a Test match for the first time since 1968. The Hundred and a number of England white-ball fixtures are the likelier free-to-air candidates. No home Test has been shown on free-to-air television since Channel 4 covered the 2005 Ashes, and this is the first concrete sign that might change.
County Championship: Somerset wobble, Kent surge
The domestic day was busy. Henry Crocombe took a hat-trick and finished with 5-56 as Somerset were bowled out for 202 at Hove, losing their last five wickets for 11 runs and denting their pursuit of a first Championship title; Sussex closed on 77 for 2. At Chelmsford, Sam Cook — released from the England squad — changed into Essex kit and took 3-41 as Surrey were dismissed for 183, with Ollie Pope, also surplus to requirements at Lord’s, making 13. In Division Two, Zak Crawley’s unbeaten 82 and Ben Compton’s 51 took Kent to 154 for 0 against promotion rivals Northamptonshire in a day cut to 36 overs by rain.
Day two at Lord’s begins with England nine wickets down and Pakistan yet to bat. On the evidence of Thursday, the cricket is the least complicated thing England have to deal with.
