By stumps at Edgbaston, the scoreboard said 52-2. The story said something far more brutal.
England stand on the brink of a crushing series sweep over Pakistan, having carved out a 320-run first-innings lead and then ripped out both openers before the Birmingham weather finally showed the tourists some mercy on day two of the third Test.
Pakistan still trail by 268. It feels like more.
Robinson’s ruthless opening
The tone of the evening session changed in the space of four balls.
Ollie Robinson, in the kind of form fast bowlers dream about and batters dread, needed just one delivery to extend Saim Ayub’s nightmare tour. First ball, edge, gone. A pair for the left-hander, one of four players drafted straight into the XI after Pakistan swung the axe on seven from the original touring party.
Three balls later, Abdullah Shafique followed him. Another nick, another slip catch, another early walk back. Pakistan 0-2, Robinson rampant, Edgbaston roaring.
By the time rain dragged the players off, Robinson’s figures read 2-10. They barely capture the scale of his summer. He now has 28 wickets in four Tests at an astonishing average of 7.75. Against Pakistan, that number dips into the surreal: 6.66 runs per wicket.
England’s attack has had plenty of bite this season. Robinson has been the teeth.
Root’s safe hands and a rare England miss
Joe Root’s grab to remove Shafique carried its own little piece of history. It moved him to 220 Test catches as an outfielder, nudging him one ahead of Steve Smith in their quiet, long-running duel in the slips.
Root rarely spills them. Ben Duckett, by contrast, endured another difficult evening. Shan Masood, who battled to 21 not out, should have gone on 13 when he edged Gus Atkinson, only for Duckett to grass his third chance of the Test. Atkinson could only curse his luck; Masood and Azan Awais made England pay, at least in the short term.
The pair settled, then resisted. Azan finished unbeaten on 29, Masood still there with him, and together they stitched 50 precious runs for the third wicket. It wasn’t a counter-attack, more a sandbagging of the flood, but after 0-2 it felt like survival.
Then the rain came, heavy and decisive, cutting short a day that was beginning to tilt ominously again towards England.
England’s middle order piles on the weight
Pakistan’s problems began long before Robinson got his hands on the new ball.
England’s first-innings 452 was built like a relay, each batter grabbing the baton and adding another layer of pressure. On the first evening, Emilio Gay’s composed 60 and Harry Brook’s brisk 75 had already put the hosts in command. Day two only deepened the damage.
Dan Lawrence played with authority for 65, Jamie Smith added a lively 69, and Robinson, not content with tormenting Pakistan with the ball, chipped in with a polished 50 of his own. Every time Pakistan thought they saw a way through, another partnership formed, another half-century appeared on the board.
The lead grew and grew, eventually stretching to 320. On a surface offering just enough for the seamers and with overheads to match, it felt like a mountain.
Pakistan hanging on, England circling
At 0-2, Pakistan looked in danger of tumbling straight off that mountain. Azan and Masood at least halted the slide, showing some of the discipline and resolve that had been missing earlier in the series.
Yet the context is unforgiving. Two down, 268 behind, and an England side hunting a clean sweep with a bowler in the form of his life and a slip cordon smelling blood.
Rain bought Pakistan time. Nothing more.
Day three will tell whether that brief stand under grey skies was the start of a fightback or just a pause before England finish the job.
