Edgbaston has seen its share of chaos, but this was something else.
A 21-year-old on Test debut, batting at number nine, turned a routine march to a clean sweep into a nervy, ragged stumble. Razaullah walked in as a tailender and batted like a seasoned destroyer, belting 81 from 63 balls and dragging Pakistan, and the final Test, into a fourth day that had no right to exist.
England still need only 130 to win and complete a 3-0 series victory. They remain overwhelming favourites. Yet the manner in which they were brutalised in that final session left a sour taste and reopened old arguments about leadership, planning and control.
No plan… out of control
Alastair Cook watched it unfold from the commentary box and did not bother to sugar-coat what he saw.
"You can get done by the tail - it's very hard when people have the license and ability to hit sixes," he told Test Match Special. "What I saw was no plan, it got out of control.
"That's when you need the backroom staff and coaches to step up. I would loved to have seen a message and some real leadership from the coaches."
For long stretches, there was none. Just England, flailing, as Pakistan’s ninth-wicket pair seized the day.
Razaullah and Muhammad Abbas added 121 for the ninth wicket, a partnership that began as a stay of execution and turned into a full-scale jailbreak. Every clean strike from Razaullah chipped away not just at the lead, but at England’s composure.
Nine times he cleared the ropes. Nine times he sent fielders, bowlers and plans scattering. Those maximums tied the record for the most sixes in an innings by a batter on Test debut and matched Ben Stokes’ mark for the most sixes in a Test played in England. On debut. At number nine. Against an attack that has been lauded all summer.
Tactics in tatters
This was Joe Root’s second spell as captain. It felt, at times, worryingly like his first.
England’s seamers persisted with a short-ball plan, deep fields set as if they were defending 30 in the last over of a T20. Bouncers rained down, catchers retreated to the boundary, and the tail – supposedly numbers nine and 10 “for a reason” – swung freely.
When the quicks did go at the stumps, they missed. When they changed it up, the thinking unravelled.
The most baffling moment came with the second new ball. Root handed it not to Ollie Robinson, the spearhead of this summer’s attack, but to Dan Lawrence, a part-time off-spinner who had barely turned his arm over in the series.
Jonathan Agnew did not hold back.
"You cannot and should not bowl like that to tailenders as soon as they come in," the former England fast bowler and BBC’s chief cricket commentator said. "You have to set the tone when you're bowling against tailenders. Yes, you bowl aggressively, but in a controlled way. They are numbers nine and 10 for a reason. It was bitterly disappointing.
"Dan Lawrence is a part-time off-spinner and he took the second new-ball. If you're looking for any aspect of the day that is utterly bonkers, that is it."
From the boundary rope, interim head coach Marcus Trescothick and bowling coach Tim Southee watched on, the latter occasionally stepping forward with messages. None of it stemmed the flow.
At one point, Gus Atkinson was asked to bowl bouncers with eight men on the fence. Jofra Archer, hammered for successive straight sixes by Razaullah, wore his frustration openly. Root’s shoulders sagged, his options seemingly exhausted. At one stage he left the field to consult the backroom staff. The direction did not noticeably improve.
Michael Vaughan, another former captain, saw a familiar pattern.
"We shouldn't be surprised by England, they've delivered tactically like this on a regular basis," he said. "I think they'll win this game but they can't keep making mistakes like that. The basics of Test cricket generally work and that's to hit the top of the stumps. It's a bit of a warning sign that this attack is very good but they aren't the finished article just yet.
"Who are the characters in the team who are going got grab a hold of everyone and say, 'right, I'm going to make a moment'. I didn't see it from anyone today."
Pakistan thrive in the storm
For Pakistan, this was familiar territory: thriving in the chaos England helped to create.
Razaullah swung with freedom, yes, but there was method too. He picked his bowlers, lined up his zones, and punished every misdirected short ball. Each clean hit tightened the screw, each misfield or misjudged plan emboldened him further.
Abbas played the perfect foil, resisting just long enough to keep the stand alive. When he finally poked Josh Tongue to point, the damage had already been done. The scoreboard, and the mood, had shifted.
Razaullah’s dismissal, stumped off Lawrence from the final ball of the day, finally ended Pakistan’s innings at 453 all out. Even that felt oddly symbolic: the part-time spinner who had been thrust into a new-ball role eventually claiming the last wicket, long after the contest had been transformed.
Trescothick left to pick through the wreckage
Trescothick, standing in as head coach before Stephen Fleming takes over in December, did not attempt to disguise his disappointment.
"I'm disappointed, of course," he said. "We were in a position where they were eight down and the scores were level. We were hoping to go through them pretty quickly.
"We tried many different things. You have variations of plans. We bowled the short ball for a period of time, then length for a period of time, then a bit of spin. You're always chopping and changing, with various ideas.
"You'd always like to think you can do it better and you analyse it afterwards saying, 'right, was there an area or tactic we missed to get it right?' You hope in those situations when you bowl it in the right place, which we did on many occasions, that you get the nick or bowl them. Fair play, they played pretty well."
Fair play, indeed. But the questions do not vanish with a polite nod to the opposition.
This was supposed to be a procession to 3-0, a neat, emphatic full stop on the summer before a new coaching era under Fleming. Instead, England walk into the fourth day with a modest chase on paper and a nagging doubt in the mind.
They should still finish the job. They almost certainly will.
But as Razaullah walked off to a standing ovation, having equalled Stokes’ six-hitting feats on debut, the lingering thought was not about whether England can win this Test.
It was whether, under pressure and under fire, this team can ever truly stop days like this from spiralling out of control.
