Pakistan collapse again as England seize control at Edgbaston

The first day of the Edgbaston Test, which Pakistan had already lost, was marred by yet another batting collapse, which put them in a difficult position to lose to England.

Shaken up in morale and in resource, Pakistan handed three debuts and brought in Saim Ayub, hoping to, as captain Babar Azam had said, play as if they had “nothing to lose”. But across one-and-a-half sessions, they lost ten wickets, debilitated by Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue.

Robinson was typically difficult to score off, becoming the fastest to 100 Test wickets by a post-War England bowler. For the fifth time, Pakistan’s opening stand was extinguished in single digits. Pakistan had fallen to 26/4 by the time Shan Masood, like Azan Awais before him, was sent back with some extra help from Jofra Archer.

Josh Tongue literally clipped out Babar Azam's stump, or rather, the tip, and the parade resumed. It was the second-lowest aggregate (24) by a Pakistan top five in a Test innings since 2000.

Despite the fact that Saud Shakeel protected one end from harm, there was little cushion or support all around. The middle order was torn open further by Tongue, sending back debutant Ghazi Ghori and Mohammad Imran. Pakistan's final line of defense vanished when he broke through Shakeel's defenses, which had advanced into the 40s.

Still, Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Ali spent 55 balls between them and didn't move easily. Abbas reached 20 for only the third time in his Test career, and Ali even survived a nasty hit to his right leg. Their innings wrapped up inside 34 overs, their third shortest against England in Tests.

England's response was measured in light of the greater potential for swing. In the fifth over, Babar caught Ali sharply in the slip cordon, bringing Ben Duckett back. When Abbas hit Jordan Cox on the back pad in front, it became 24/2.

Joe Root became the third player with more Test caps than Steve Waugh, but Razaullah, a debutant, caught him for an unusual run of leg before. He has been run out in this manner eight times in ten Test innings this summer.

Emilio Gay, though, was solid and watchful, planting out his front foot to drive whenever the opportunity presented. He was floored by one of those attempts, which resulted in a painful inside edge to his back knee. However, he carried on regardless of how the odd ball moved.

Even though Pakistan's seamers occasionally teased the outside edge and pinned Gay to the crease with the keeper up, Harry Brook was Gay's ideal partner. They put together England's first 100+ fourth-wicket stand against Pakistan at home in two decades.

Despite Gay's inability to see the end of the day, he still scored the first fifty by either team's opener in this series. Brook, accompanied by Dan Lawrence, scored fifty runs to secure England's position.