Usman is the first visiting spinner to take five at Headingley since 1972, and Pakistan trail by 195

Ali Usman ended the second day at Headingley with the best figures of his Test career and very little to show for them. The left-arm spinner finished with 5 for 92, the first five-wicket haul by a visiting spinner at the ground since Ashley Mallett in the 1972 Ashes, and by the time his fifth arrived England had already reached 366 for 8 and a lead of 195. Usman is 33 and only started his Test career last month, against West Indies.

Rain took a session and a half

Play on Thursday, 20 August did not start until 2.45pm local time. England had closed the first day on 112 for 2, and the players spent more than three hours watching the covers before Joe Root and Jordan Cox could resume. Only 57 overs were possible, all of them under floodlights, and England still scored at 4.46 an over.

That rate said more about Pakistan’s seamers than about any English intent. Khurram Shahzad hooped his first ball after the resumption past Root’s drive, then leaked 17 in his third over and finished the day with 1 for 111. Mohammad Abbas began with a pair of maidens, Mohammad Rizwan up at the stumps, before his hunt for inswing drifted onto Cox’s pads. Cox helped himself to boundaries on both sides of the wicket and brought up his maiden Test fifty from 78 balls.

Two dropped catches, and the match with them

Pakistan had one window and put it down twice. Cox and Root had added 150 for the third wicket when both fell in consecutive overs, Cox to Usman and Root lbw to Khurram, leaving England 202 for 4 with the lead at 31 and two new batters in.

Khurram had already let Cox off once, spilling a toe-ended return catch when the batter was on 57 and then serving up three more boundary balls in the same over. The second miss cost more. Harry Brook had made 1 when he edged Khurram to Salman Agha at second slip, and the Pakistan captain shelled it and split his finger in the process. Had it stuck, England would have been 205 for 5 and Pakistan would have taken three wickets for seven runs in 14 balls. Instead Brook batted on for close to 30 more overs.

Brook made 91 from 93. It was, for him, a restrained innings, without the reverse scoops and inside-out drives that have become his signature, and it ended the way his last Test at Headingley did: short of a hundred at his own ground. He made 99 here against India in June 2025. His record against Pakistan is absurd either way, an average of 84.72 and more runs than he has scored against any other opponent.

Root’s 66, and a number Tendulkar has held for years

Root wore shirt number 66, played his 66th Test as England captain and scored 66. It should have been his 42nd Test century. Instead it became his 68th score between 50 and 99, which draws him level with Sachin Tendulkar at the top of that particular list.

Dan Lawrence made 51 before top-edging a sweep off Usman, the most aggressive dismissal of a day that otherwise ended in a series of near misses. Jamie Smith was 16 not out at the close with Jofra Archer on nought, and Josh Tongue still to bat.

Usman found something in the pitch late

Usman had Brook bowled by an arm-ball that skidded through, then took two in two balls in the extra half-hour, trapping Gus Atkinson in front and then bowling Ollie Robinson with what he called his best delivery of the match. He was not inclined to celebrate.

“Our bowling was not up to standard today, including myself,” he said afterwards. “I took five wickets but we’ve given away too many runs as a bowling unit.”

He did offer Pakistan a reason to keep watching. “I think day-by-day the wicket is slowing down,” he said. “It’s slow already, it’s not especially fast, but on the next three days it’s going to take a lot more turn.” That matters because England are not carrying a specialist spinner in this Test and would have to turn to Lawrence if the surface starts to bite.

Pakistan were bowled out for 171 on the opening day, Ollie Robinson taking 5 for 51 and Josh Tongue 5 for 46. They resume on Friday needing England’s last two wickets quickly and then a first innings of a completely different order. Usman’s own contribution with the bat lasted one delivery, an lbw to Tongue for a golden duck.

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