BIRMINGHAM: England beat Pakistan by eight wickets on the fourth day of the third and final Test at Edgbaston on Saturday, completing a 3-0 series sweep and inflicting a first-ever home Test whitewash on Pakistan.
Set 130 to win, England were reduced to two for two inside the opening over of the morning before captain Joe Root and Jordan Cox rebuilt with an unbroken third-wicket stand to finish on 130-2 in 24.2 overs, wrapping up the chase inside the first session. Root was unbeaten on 62 off 69 balls and Cox 59 not out off 76.
The victory completes a clean sweep for the hosts, who had already won at Headingley and Lord’s, and seals the series 3-0.
Mohammad Abbas gave Pakistan the dream beginning their fightback had earned, removing openers Ben Duckett and Emilio Gay in the first over of the day, both without scoring. Abbas finished with 2-27 and was the only bowler to take a wicket in the innings.
Pakistan were denied a third breakthrough when Root, on 23 with England 35-2, dragged a delivery from Mohammad Ali onto his stumps only for the bowler to be called for overstepping. Root, reprieved, went on to make his fifty and settle the chase alongside Cox, who has now made three half-centuries in the series.
Pakistan’s hopes of a fourth-innings defence had been built on one of the most remarkable debut innings in Test history.
Batting at No. 9 on the third evening, 21-year-old debutant Razaullah struck 81 from 63 balls with nine sixes and four fours, equalling the world record for the most sixes by a batter on Test debut. The only other player to have hit nine sixes on debut is New Zealand’s Tim Southee, who made 77 not out against England at Napier in 2008.
Razaullah was finally stumped by Cox off the bowling of Dan Lawrence, ending a partnership with Mohammad Abbas that lifted Pakistan from a position of near-certain innings defeat into a fourth-innings contest. He had earlier taken 4-148 in England’s first innings, dismissing Root with his fourth ball in Test cricket.
Pakistan were bowled out for 449 in their second innings, leaving England 130 to win the match and complete the series whitewash.
Shan Masood was the top scorer with 95, while Babar Azam made 76 and Azan Awais contributed 59. Saud Shakeel managed 29 and Ghazi Ghori 16. Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique were both dismissed without scoring. Mohammad Abbas also batted aggressively for 40. Gus Atkinson was the pick of the England bowlers with 3-109.
England had earlier posted 453 in their first innings, in reply to which Pakistan were dismissed for just 133 — a deficit of 320 that had appeared decisive at the halfway stage of the match. Pakistan had gone into the series facing questions over their first Test series whitewash in England, a result that has now been confirmed.
Coming days after Pakistan U19’s 177-run win over England, debut records of this kind are rare in the longest format because new Test players are usually cautious against the moving ball in English conditions. Southee’s innings at Napier in 2008 came in similar circumstances — a young player counter-attacking in a lost position — and remained unmatched for eighteen years.
For Pakistan, whose top order fell away again with two ducks at the top, the value of the innings goes beyond the record book. Shan Masood’s 95 and Babar Azam’s 76 rebuilt the innings, Azan Awais’s fifty gave it length, and Razaullah and Mohammad Abbas turned a rearguard into a contest by adding late, quick runs that converted a likely three-day innings defeat into a fourth-innings chase.
That the chase was ultimately completed for the loss of only two wickets, however, underlined the gap between the sides across the three matches. Pakistan were outplayed in every phase of the series, and the tour ends with a heavy defeat that will invite scrutiny of the batting order’s repeated first-innings collapses.
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