Captain Joe Root and Jordan Cox helped England fight back from an early scare as the hosts recovered from 2-2, to successfully chase down 130 and wrap up an eight-wicket win and a 3-0 series clean sweep against Pakistan at Edgbaston.
READ MORE: England survive scare to sweep Pakistan series
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BIRMINGHAM, England: Rain prevented England from putting Pakistan in a deeper hole than 52-2 and 268 runs behind on day two of the Edgbaston cricket test on Thursday.
Pakistan walked out after tea 320 runs behind to begin its second innings in gloomy, lights-on conditions perfectly suited for England’s four-man pace attack which has dominated the series.
Pakistan has yet to crack a 200 total, and Ollie Robinson was the man of the moment again.
Robinson got Saim Ayub to nick to the slips off the first ball and became only the fifth bowler in test history to twice take a wicket with the first ball of an innings in a series. The last person was Zaheer Khan for India against Bangladesh in 2007. Bill Voce was the only previous Englishman in 1937 against Australia.
Ayub was playing Twenty20s in the Caribbean 10 days ago but was summoned in mid-series in a panic call by the Pakistan Cricket Board to play his first test in 20 months. He bagged a pair.
Robinson struck again with his fourth ball, nicking off Abdullah Shafique.
That made Pakistan start 0-2 for the sixth time ever in tests and the second time against England. The other was at the same ground in 1982. The bowler was Ian Botham.
From 0-2, Azan Awais and Shan Masood dug out Pakistan to 52-2 in 12 overs. Awais had 29 and Masood 21 after being dropped on 13 by Ben Duckett off the luckless Gus Atkinson.
Wet weather came sooner than forecast and guaranteed Pakistan lived to fight at least one more day in a three-test series already lost. England, up 2-0, should complete the sweep on Saturday with no test going the distance.
Fifties and no hundreds again
England began the day already in front with a lead of 23 at 156-4.
In two sessions, 50 overs, they added 297 runs at a pacy 5.9, its fastest rate on any day all summer. Three more batters scored fifties to add to Emilio Gay’s gritty 60 and Harry Brook’s unbeaten 52 on Wednesday but the effort looked nothing like Bazball.
However, Brook, Dan Lawrence, Jamie Smith and less so Robinson would have thought a century was at their mercy.
The former trio spent more than two hours at the crease, three hours in Brook’s case, but all fell tamely and showed obvious frustration to miss out on a century on a fair pitch against a popgun attack.
Brook ran himself out on 75, Lawrence dragged on on 65, and Smith chipped back to fast bowler Razaullah Khan on 69.
Robinson’s breezy 50 from 47 balls highlighted the merciless contribution from the tailenders of 116 runs and 15 boundaries.
Brook resumed on a restrained 52 and Dan Lawrence on 5, and in sunny conditions they plundered seven runs per over in the first hour.
Brook then mistakenly took on Shan Masood at midwicket and has now been involved in five run outs in tests — only Virat Kohli (6) has been in more. Brook has gone 11 tests without a century but was still averaging more than 40.
Lawrence, filling Ben Stokes’ old spot, had in hand his third fifty in three tests when he chopped on. He gave up an agonizing “No” and Mohammad Imran’s first test wicket.
“Bitterly disappointed to get out in the 60s,” Lawrence said. “Something I’ve prided myself on this season is kicking on. I really wanted a big hundred today.
Pakistan still went to lunch with an air of resignation as Smith collected an unbeaten 47 of the 143 runs in the session.
Smith got his third 50 of the summer straight after lunch by crashing Razaullah through the covers, but Razaullah got him caught and bowled on 69.
No. 9 batter Robinson greeted the new ball by lofting Mohammad Abbas for six over cow corner and got his second 50 of the season from 46 balls. The entertainment was ended by a good catch from Masood in the covers.
BIRMINGHAM, England: Pakistan’s new-look team was unable to shake off old problems as it was bowled out for a paltry 133 after being put into bat by England in the third and final cricket test at Edgbaston on Wednesday, before Emilio Gay and Harry Brook carried the hosts further into the ascendancy.
Josh Tongue claimed 4-42 while Ollie Robinson and Jofra Archer shared six wickets as Pakistan’s shake-up since going 2-0 down in the three-match series had minimal impact.
Gay and Brook then made fifties to lift England to 156-4 at stumps on day one, leading by 23 despite captain Joe Root being out lbw for the 10th time in 13 innings.
Robinson conceded just 15 runs in 11 overs, as he went from 99 to 102 test wickets, while his average of 19.1 is the best post-war of any bowler with more than 100 dismissals.
England claimed a first breakthrough when the recalled Saim Ayub was trapped lbw for a duck to give quick bowler Robinson his 100th test wicket.
Jofra Archer then forced Azan Awais into offering mid-on fielder Josh Tongue a low, diving catch off a leading edge.
Abdullah Shafique was next to go, caught low down by Dan Lawrence at third slip off Robinson.
Shan Masood became the fourth wicket to fall when he lobbed the ball to mid-wicket off fast bowler Archer following a poor cross-bat stroke.
Fellow paceman Tongue then removed Pakistan captain Babar Azam before dismissing debutants Ghazi Ghori and Imran Randhawa, lbw and clean bowled respectively, before lunch.
Razaullah Khan, another debutant, fell for 11 in the afternoon session. Saud Shakeel, who made a fighting 97 in a losing cause at Lord’s, was the one shining light for Pakistan as he top-scored with 43 before being clean bowled by a sharp inswinging delivery from Tongue.
Archer took the final wicket when he had Mohammad Abbas caught in the slips for 21 to finish with figures of 3-25. Robinson picked up 3-15 in a miserly 11-over stint and Tongue 4-42.
Then, in England’s first-innings reply, Ben Duckett was removed by Mohammad Ali for 11 before Jordan Cox fell to Abbas for 4.
England took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series after beating Pakistan by 194 runs at Lord’s.