England Dominate Pakistan as Rain Stops Two-Day Victory at Edgbaston
The clock at Edgbaston read 17:07 when the rain finally won. By then, the contest had already been reduced to a formality. England were hunting a two-day victory; Pakistan were simply trying to last the evening.
They limped to 52-2 in their second innings, still 268 runs short of making England bat again, when the weather swept in for a second and decisive time. Play could, in theory, have gone on until 19:00 with the extra half-hour, but the storm did what Pakistan’s batters have not managed all series: it stopped England.
The reprieve is temporary. Barring a miracle, England will return on Friday to complete a 3-0 clean sweep.
England turn the screw
Any doubt about the direction of this match vanished early in the day. England resumed on 156-4, already 23 ahead, and turned a position of control into complete domination with a relentless, cleverly paced assault.
Harry Brook’s 75, Jamie Smith’s 69, Dan Lawrence’s 65 and Ollie Robinson’s 50 powered the hosts to 453 all out, a towering first-innings lead of 320. Pakistan, who have not reached 200 or batted beyond 51 overs in any innings this series, were effectively buried before they picked up a bat again.
The only blemish on England’s card was an oddly collective failure to reach three figures. For all the carnage, Ben Duckett’s century against New Zealand at Trent Bridge remains their only hundred of the home summer. Across six Tests, no other England batter has gone on to three figures – a quirk that jars against the scale of their dominance.
Brook looked the likeliest to change that. He and Lawrence added 86 with a partnership bristling with intent, Lawrence the one forcing the pace while Brook punched gaps and ran hard. Busy singles and twos kept Pakistan’s bowlers under constant pressure.
Then came the lapse. Brook set off for a single that never existed, flicking to mid-wicket and stranded by a sharp piece of fielding, run out for 75 at the non-striker’s end. It was a needless exit, and his irritation walking off told its own story.
Lawrence, recalled at the start of this series, again did the hard work. This was his third half-century in the three Tests, a body of work that should be enough to book his ticket to South Africa in December. Yet the landmark still eludes him. On 65, he chopped on to Mohammad Imran, let out an audible cry, and trudged away from what remains an empty space in his record: no Test hundred after 17 matches.
Smith’s innings carried a different kind of significance. After a bruising Ashes tour, he has looked more assured with both bat and gloves this summer. At a ground where he has enjoyed success before, he muscled Pakistan through the leg side, picking off anything straight with authority. Just as he seemed set to push on, he pushed a gentle return catch back to Razaullah on 69, another England batter falling within sight of a landmark.
Robinson’s purple patch
If the batters kept missing personal milestones, Robinson made sure the team’s advantage kept ballooning.
Right now, he can do almost nothing wrong. With the bat, he swung fiercely through the leg side, including a towering six into the Hollies Stand, on his way to a second Test half-century. The first came in Ranchi in 2024, just before he was dropped. The contrast is stark: then on the fringes, now indispensable.
His 50 came in a blur of clean hitting and opportunistic strokeplay, further demoralising a Pakistan attack already gashed by England’s top and middle order. Even Jofra Archer joined the fun, clubbing two sixes of his own and finishing unbeaten on 32 as last man Josh Tongue edged behind.
By the time England were bowled out, Pakistan looked beaten in body language if not yet in numbers. The lead of 320 felt more like a mountain range.
New regime, new edge
Under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, England revolutionised their style but attracted one persistent criticism: they often drifted in dead rubbers. They had lost the final Test in each of their past six series, with some of their sloppiest displays coming after the main job was done – at home to Sri Lanka in 2024, away to New Zealand later that year.
Stokes never liked the word “ruthless”, and at times his team played like it. This series under Joe Root has been different. Against limited opposition, yes, and with conditions in their favour on Thursday – England batted under bright skies and then bowled under thickening cloud – but the edge has returned.
There is a new calmness to their batting, a willingness to change tempo rather than live permanently in fast-forward. The way they extended their lead on day two, shifting between consolidation and acceleration, spoke of a side that has learned to dominate in more than one gear.
The ruthlessness, though, is clearest with the ball. And no one embodies that more than Robinson.
Two wickets in an over, and a glimpse of history
Pakistan’s second innings began after tea, leaving England one session to chase a rarity: the first two-day Test finish in this country since 2000. The crowd knew it. So did the players.
With Smith off the field nursing a bruised finger, Jordan Cox took the gloves. Robinson took the new ball. The mood changed instantly.
First ball of the innings, Saim Ayub flirted outside off stump and paid the price, edging to Brook at second slip. No sighters, no easing in, just a reckless poke and a walk back for nought.
Robinson smelled blood. Later in the same over, Abdullah Shafique’s crooked bat produced another edge, this time to Root at first slip. Pakistan were 0-2, Robinson 2-0, and Edgbaston roared at the prospect of a two-day finish.
For a brief spell, it felt genuinely on. England’s bowlers hunted, fielders closed in, and Pakistan’s top order stared at the scoreboard as if it belonged to someone else.
Azan Awais and Shan Masood, to their credit, dug in. In deepening gloom, they survived 12 overs, Masood living dangerously. He offered a tough chance to Duckett at third slip off Gus Atkinson, the sort of opportunity that might have cracked the door open again for England before the rain.
The catch went down. The clouds thickened. The umpires looked up more often. Eventually, the rain that had threatened for an hour finally committed.
By then, the two-day finish was slipping away. The series, though, is not. England will return with a ball that is still relatively new, a lead that remains colossal, and a bowler in Robinson who is in the form of his life.
If this is what his purple patch looks like in September, what might it mean for the winter – and for the Ashes next summer?
