Pakistan were 26 for 4 in the tenth over at Edgbaston, and extras were their second-top scorer at lunch

Pakistan lost four wickets for 26 runs inside the first ten overs at Edgbaston on Wednesday, and by the lunch break on day one of the third Test they were 100 for 7. Their second-highest contributor at the interval was extras.

Twenty-three overs, seven wickets

Joe Root won the toss under grey Birmingham cloud and put Pakistan in, with England naming an unchanged XI. It took Ollie Robinson until the third over to have Saim Ayub lbw for a ten-ball duck, and once the top order started going it did not stop. Azan Awais edged Jofra Archer to Josh Tongue on 14. Abdullah Shafique was caught by Dan Lawrence off Robinson on 24. Shan Masood fell to Archer an over later, caught by a substitute fielder, and Pakistan were 26 for 4 in the tenth over.

Babar Azam batted 18 balls for 7 before Tongue knocked him over with the score on 48. Tongue then had Ghazi Ghori lbw for 4 on debut, and bowled Mohammad Imran, also on debut, at 84. Three Pakistan players were making their Test debuts in this match. Two of them had been dismissed before lunch on the first day.

Robinson’s figures at the break read 8-3-9-2. Nine runs from eight overs on a first morning, with three maidens. Tongue took 3 for 23, Archer 2 for 18, and Gus Atkinson went wicketless for 31 while everything else was falling over at the other end.

Saud Shakeel and the extras

Saud Shakeel was 37 not out from 38 balls at lunch, with six fours, which in the context of the morning is close to a counter-attack. Razaullah, the third debutant, was 11 not out alongside him after coming in at the fall of the seventh wicket.

The other number worth looking at is 19. Six byes and thirteen leg byes put extras second on the Pakistan card, behind Shakeel and ahead of every other batter in the side. Pakistan’s first five made 24 between them, which means the entire top order finished the session five runs ahead of the byes and leg byes and nothing more.

The context nobody in the camp will enjoy

England won at Lord’s by 194 runs in late August to take the series 2-0 with a match to spare, so this one decides only whether Pakistan avoid a 3-0 whitewash. They came into it having sent seven players home and called up replacements, several of whom had never played a Test. They changed head coach mid-series, with Mike Hesson taking over. Babar said publicly that the scale of the squad changes was news to him.

Robinson is the other continuity. He took eight wickets at Lord’s, 4 for 11 and 4 for 24, and was named player of the match. He has picked up where he left off. So, in fairness, has Shakeel, whose 97 at Lord’s is still the highest individual score of the series.

Where the match sits

Pakistan still had Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Abbas to come at lunch, so the innings was not finished, and Shakeel was still there with 37 of it. Anything much beyond 140 from 100 for 7 would count as a recovery of sorts, and Pakistan bowled England out for 290 and 208 at Lord’s, so the attack is not the part of this side that has been failing.

The session, though, belonged entirely to England. Four down inside ten overs and seven down by lunch on the first morning leaves Pakistan chasing this match from the start of it, which is roughly how the whole tour has gone.

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