England Overpower Pakistan as They Aim to Secure Series Whitewash at Home

The Pakistani team's six-year-long absence from English test venues meant that they came into the series with high expectations of competing against the host nation but, unfortunately, found themselves 0-2 down before the third and final Test match at Edgbaston, Birmingham, where the English team will look to win the series in a whitewash.

It all started for Pakistan on the third day of the Headingley Test match. The team's innings started in an ignominious way when their opening batsman, Azan Awais, was out off the very first delivery to Ollie Robinson. Thereafter, Robinson and Josh Tongue combined to share all ten first-innings wickets between them as Pakistan was bowled out for a meager score of 171 runs.

The response of England was equally unequivocal. With fifties by Jordan Cox, Joe Root, and Dan Lawrence and a century by Harry Brook, who missed out on his ton by just nine runs in a smooth 91-ball 91, England reached 409 runs for the loss of just five wickets, gaining a lead of 238 runs.

In an otherwise disappointing performance, Ali Usman, the leg-spinner of the Pakistani team, provided a ray of hope in his first five-wicket haul in English conditions, becoming the fourth Pakistani spinner to do so in England. Pakistan lost their second innings inside three days for just 135 runs, as Robinson completed his career-best figures of 8 for 80.

Lord's second Test provided no comfort whatsoever for the visitors. The English side once again got off to a good start, and, after the tourists folded for a mere 110 runs in their first innings, an aggressive second innings total of 194 did nothing to make an impression on the total of 290 and 208 made by the English side, thus losing by 194 runs in the match.

Integral to England’s supremacy throughout is Brook’s remarkable record against Pakistan in particular, his average of which stands above 85 in Tests against them, in conjunction with a seam unit spearheaded by Robinson and Tongue that has consistently taken advantage of the English environment. Pakistan, on the other hand, have found that the emergence of their new captain, Babar Azam, as well as changes from the coaching standpoint, have not helped them find their batting form, which has repeatedly come to naught because of collapses of the top order.

Having already conceded the series, Pakistan has utilized the third Test match to reconfigure their playing XI, fielding three debutants to Test cricket, namely Ghazi Ghori, Mohammad Imran, and Razaullah. It is reported that Babar Azam did not even know the extent of the changes that were being made by his side before entering Edgbaston. England, meanwhile, have made one change of their own, introducing fast bowler Sam Cook.

In the case of Edgbaston, with Root winning the toss, he elected to take first strike advantage as well, with Pakistan struggling yet again to 70 for 6 in the opening hour, with Ghazi Ghori failing once again with bat in hand for his debut appearance, before some resistance late on stabilized the innings. The home bowling attack, featuring Tongue once again at its best, wasted little time in making use of familiar surroundings.