Pakistan lost a wicket to the first ball at Headingley, and were all out for 171

Ollie Robinson had bowled one ball of his Test comeback when Azan Awais was trapped in front and sent on his way. Pakistan reviewed it, lost, and never really settled after that. By the close of a rain-shortened opening day at Headingley they were 171 all out, and England had already knocked 112 off that in 25 overs.

Two five-fors, and only two bowlers needed

Robinson finished with 5 for 51 from 18 overs on a return England had spent a while talking themselves into. Josh Tongue was quicker and blunter, taking 5 for 46 in 9.1 overs and cleaning up the tail. Between them they took all ten. Jofra Archer bowled nine overs for 26 without a wicket, four of them maidens, and Gus Atkinson went wicketless from 12.

Joe Root won the toss on the first morning of his second spell as England captain, a job he has back after Ben Stokes retired, and put Pakistan in with an all-seam attack. Rain then took a chunk out of the middle of the day. The players came off with Pakistan 23 for 2 from 9.4 overs, lunch was called early at 12.30pm, and it was close to two hours before anything happened again.

Shafique and Imam built something, then it went

From 6 for 2, Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq put on 91 for the third wicket and made the pitch look ordinary for a while. Shafique reached fifty off 82 balls and finished with 61 off 104, eight fours in it. Imam made 42 off 74 before Tongue had him caught by Harry Brook.

What followed is the part Pakistan will not want to look at again. Their last seven wickets went down for 74 runs. Saud Shakeel was lbw to Robinson for 5 and Shafique was bowled two overs later, two wickets for a single run. Then came the pair at 150: Tongue bowled Salman Agha, and Ali Usman was lbw to the next ball he faced, first ball of his innings.

Salman Agha was captaining a Test for the first time, standing in after Babar Azam was ruled out on the eve of the match, and made 21 off 29 with four fours. Mohammad Rizwan got 12. Khurram Shahzad’s 14 off 12 at No. 9 was the only thing that dragged the total past 160.

England’s reply, and Root at the end of it

Ben Duckett went lbw to Mohammad Abbas for 15 and Emilio Gay was caught by Salman Agha off Mohammad Ali for 33, seven fours from 31 balls. That left England 48 for 2 inside ten overs, and it has cost them nothing so far. Jordan Cox and Root added 64 without being separated, Root unbeaten on 37 from 53 and Cox on 23.

Abbas was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers with 1 for 34 from ten overs. England trail by 59 with eight wickets standing, and day two starts at 11am local time, 3.30pm in India.

Two sides near the bottom of the table

The wider context is bleak for both. England came into this series seventh in the World Test Championship on 24.36 percent, and 14 of the points they have earned in this cycle have since been taken off them for slow over-rates: two against India in July 2025, and twelve after the Oval Test against New Zealand in June, a deduction that wiped out an entire win. Pakistan are eighth on 22.22, carrying an eight-point penalty of their own from the Bangladesh series in May.

India sit fifth on 53.33 percent after beating Sri Lanka at Galle on Wednesday, with Australia well clear at the top on 77.78. For England and Pakistan, this three-Test series is a contest for pride and for whatever momentum can be carried into the next cycle.

More from our cricket desk