Edgbaston finally found its voice on day three. After two flat, one-sided days and a tour veering towards embarrassment, Pakistan fought, scrapped and then, through a fearless debutant at number nine, detonated England’s control of this Test.
England still stand on the brink of a 3-0 clean sweep. They need only 130 runs to win the Third Rothesay Test. But the way Pakistan, bowled out for 133 on day one and 0-2 in their second innings, clawed their way to 449 told a very different story about this day’s cricket.
At the heart of it was a 21-year-old no one in Birmingham will forget in a hurry.
A debutant turns chaos into a contest
When Razaullah walked in, Pakistan were 318-8, still two runs behind England and staring at the prospect of handing the hosts a tiny target with more than two hours left in the day. The script looked familiar: a meek end to a shambolic tour.
He ripped it up.
Razaullah’s 81 from 63 balls was not a plucky tailender’s cameo. It was a full‑throttle assault that rattled England, electrified the Hollies Stand and changed the mood of the entire series. He struck nine sixes, equalling Ben Stokes’ record for the most in a Test innings in England and matching Tim Southee’s mark for the most by a Test debutant.
The hitting escalated quickly. Atkinson disappeared into the Edgbaston building site, three times in one over. Archer was driven and pulled back over his head for successive sixes. England’s short-ball plan, so effective against Babar Azam earlier, suddenly looked naïve and one-paced against a young man swinging with conviction and a clean arc.
At the other end, Muhammad Abbas joined the rebellion. Normally a study in stoicism, he unfurled reverse-sweeps off Dan Lawrence and launched Ollie Robinson for two sixes over cow corner in a lively 42. Their eighth-wicket stand of 121 turned a deficit into a lead and a dead rubber into a live contest.
As the light faded, England’s bowlers lost their lines, their lengths and eventually their composure. Fields scattered to the rope, bouncers flew, and still Pakistan’s lower order kept swinging. By the time Tongue finally removed Abbas, poking to point, the damage had been done.
The finale belonged, again, to Razaullah. He cracked Lawrence for his record-equalling ninth six, survived an lbw decision on review to huge cheers from a crowd now firmly in his corner, then charged and was stumped off Lawrence for 81. He walked off to a rapturous ovation, a new star of Pakistan cricket announced in the most modern fashion: with the ball sailing into the stands.
From 318-8, Pakistan had surged to 449. England, so dominant all series, left the field chastened.
Pakistan finally show their backbone
This was not just about one man. For the first time in the series, Pakistan’s top order looked like it belonged in a Test match in England.
Starting the day on 55-2 and still 268 runs behind, they could easily have folded. Instead, Shan Masood and Azan Awais dug in, stretching their third-wicket partnership to 125. Awais, only 21, drove fluently through the off side in a composed 59 before glancing Lawrence’s off-spin down the leg side.
Masood, captaining on what is likely his final Test in the country where he went to school, played with the calm of a man determined not to go quietly. He added another 89 with Babar Azam, guiding Pakistan past 200 for the first time in the series and beyond 51 overs for the first time as well. For a side that had been blown away twice, that alone felt like a statement.
Masood’s dismissal on 95 was cruel. He slashed at Gus Atkinson and watched as Lawrence flung himself in the gully to pull off a spectacular one-handed catch. A century had beckoned; instead he walked off to warm applause, his job half-done, his team still behind but finally in the fight.
Babar’s 76 was all class – crisp drives, late cuts, the familiar elegance. When England found movement, their seamers held their length. When the ball went soft, Joe Root turned to a short-ball plan either side of tea. It unsettled Babar. A Josh Tongue bouncer climbed on him, the pull shot went wrong, and the captain departed. His wicket sparked a collapse of four for 40 that looked, for all the world, like the end.
Then came the tail. Then came Razaullah.
England lose their grip
For most of the day, England’s attack did little wrong. Tongue’s 4-42 in the first innings had set up their dominance. Here, when the ball moved, they challenged both edges. They mixed full lengths with the occasional bouncer and took their chances: Masood’s edge, Babar’s misjudged hook, sharp catches in the cordon.
But as fatigue set in after their first full day in the field this series, the discipline frayed.
The decision that will be replayed and dissected came with the second new ball. Robinson, in the form of his life this summer, watched as Root handed it to Lawrence. The part-time off-spinner, who had earlier prised out Awais and eventually dismissed Razaullah, suddenly found himself leading the attack with a hard, shiny ball and a rampant tailender in the mood.
It did not look like a captaincy masterstroke. Archer’s frustration was visible as he was flogged into the stands. Root himself briefly left the field. By the end, Atkinson was reduced to banging in bouncers at Razaullah with eight fielders on the boundary, a scene that spoke of a side out of ideas as much as a batter in the form of his life.
Pakistan’s resistance exposed something Root’s second stint as captain has not yet had to confront in this series: pressure. Until Razaullah and Abbas came together, his fields had been attacking, his plans largely untested. Once the ball started flying, England scattered men to the rope, missed their yorkers and watched as anything remotely in the slot disappeared.
The late wickets – Abbas to Tongue, then Razaullah stumped – brought a surge of relief. England walked off knowing they still hold all the cards, yet with enough scars from the evening session to feel a twinge of unease about what comes next.
A chase with a twist
On paper, 130 should not trouble this England side. They made 453 in their first innings, with contributions all the way down: Harry Brook 75, Jamie Smith 69, Lawrence 65, Emilio Gay 60, Robinson 50. Pakistan’s attack, Razaullah’s 4-148 aside, has lacked menace for most of the series.
But numbers do not tell the whole story. Not after a day like this.
Pakistan, humiliated at times on this tour, have at last found some pride and a foothold. They have a total to defend, a debutant seamer brimming with confidence after bruising England with bat and ball, and a dressing room that finally tasted the rhythm of a proper Test scrap in English conditions.
Edgbaston, quiet and half-empty on the first two days, roared into life once the ball started sailing into the stands. The Hollies Stand, drenched in colour and noise, fed off the chaos and fed it back. Suddenly, this felt like a real Test match, not a procession.
England should still finish the job on Saturday and complete their 3-0 sweep. They have the batting, they have the time, and they have the experience. Yet Pakistan have given themselves a sliver of hope and, more importantly, a platform to bowl at with their tour’s reputation on the line.
The target is small. The stakes are not.
