Two wickets in the first over, then nothing
England needed 130 on the fourth morning at Edgbaston and lost two wickets before a run was on the board. Mohammad Abbas nicked off Ben Duckett with the first ball of the day, then trapped Emilio Gay lbw four balls later to finish with 2-27. For twenty minutes Pakistan had a Test match on their hands.
Then Mohammad Ali bowled Joe Root for 23 and overstepped. England were 35-2 at that moment. Root went on to 62 not out, Jordan Cox made 59 not out, and the pair put on an unbroken 128 in 24.2 overs to close out an eight-wicket win before lunch.
That no-ball cost more than one wicket. Pakistan have not defended a target of 130 or fewer in a Test since 1993, when New Zealand were dismissed for 93 chasing 127 at Hamilton. The last time it happened in England was the 1997 Ashes at The Oval, where Australia were bowled out for 104 chasing 124.
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A whitewash England had never managed at home
This is the first time England have swept a home Test series against Pakistan. Headingley went by an innings and 103 runs, Lord’s by 194, Edgbaston by eight wickets. Joe Root took the captaincy back after Ben Stokes retired from international cricket earlier in the summer, and the margin of all three results says more about the gap between the sides than the scoreline alone.
Pakistan’s away record travels worse than their batting. They have lost 11 of their last 12 Tests outside Pakistan and 15 of their last 20 overall, a run that also contains a home defeat to Bangladesh and a drawn series in the West Indies.
Razaullah gave them one name to carry home
The 21-year-old debutant bowled Root with his fourth ball in Test cricket on the way to 4-148, which would have been the headline in most weeks. Then, with Pakistan eight wickets down in the second innings and still two runs behind, he hit 81 off 63 balls and cleared the rope nine times, equalling Tim Southee’s record for sixes by a player on Test debut.
That innings turned a three-day defeat into a fourth-day scare. Pakistan had been bowled out for 133 in 33.5 overs in the first innings and reduced to none for two on the second evening, still 320 adrift, before Razaullah dragged them to 449 second time round. England now have three months before a three-Test tour of South Africa starting on December 17.
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