BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Abbas has equalled a 27-year-old record held by legendary all-rounder Wasim Akram, striking twice in the opening over of England’s chase in the third Test at Edgbaston.
Abbas dismissed England’s first two batters in the opening over as the hosts began their pursuit of a 130-run target. Wasim Akram had performed the same feat in 1999 against Sri Lanka, becoming the first Pakistani player to take two wickets in the opening over of a Test innings. Abbas is the first to match it since.
Abbas removed opener Ben Duckett, caught behind off a length ball outside off stump, and then trapped Emilio Gay lbw, the batter unsuccessfully reviewing a delivery that beat his forward defence and struck the front pad in line with the stumps.
The 36-year-old produced an outstanding all-round performance across the match. He scored 42 runs and shared a 121-run ninth-wicket partnership with Razaullah, who made 81, carrying Pakistan’s total to 449 and converting what had looked like another innings defeat into a lead.
The 42 was the highest score of Abbas’s 33-Test career, according to match records — a genuine landmark for a bowler whose Test batting average sits below seven.
The record did not change the outcome. England won by eight wickets before lunch on the fourth day, completing a 3-0 series sweep, with Joe Root and Jordan Cox finishing unbeaten on half-centuries. Pakistan had been bowled out for 133 in their first innings on day one.
Abbas was named Player of the Series with 13 wickets at an economy rate of 3.36 — figures that stand almost entirely apart from the team’s performance around him. He also took a five-wicket haul at Lord’s earlier in the series.
Speaking after the match, Abbas said that anything is possible in cricket and that his speciality is taking wickets with the new ball. He said the ninth-wicket stand was a good moment for the side, that the series was already lost and everyone chipped in, and that he had enjoyed playing against Razaullah in first-class cricket. Of the Lord’s five-for, he called it a special moment, noting he had taken eight wickets in 2018 and four again this series before finally getting his five. It was not the result the team wanted, he said, but everyone tried their best, and he is working with his trainer on fitness so he can play more.
The whitewash is Pakistan’s first 3-0 defeat in a Test series in England, and it arrives alongside off-field scrutiny, with Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq appearing before the NCCIA during the closing stage of the tour.
Wasim Akram, whose record Abbas equalled, was among the sharpest critics of the touring side, telling The Athletic he had known before the series that Pakistan would lose 3-0, citing struggles in batting, bowling and fielding, and arguing that the problems run deeper than the current squad because the systems below the top players are not in place.
Abbas himself represents the counter-argument to part of that critique: a 36-year-old seamer, in and out of the side for years, taking 13 wickets at an economy rate under 3.4 in English conditions and top-scoring for his team from number nine.
There has been better news elsewhere, with Pakistan’s U19 side beating England by 177 runs and Nashra Sandhu taking 6 for 7 against Hong Kong.
Match details verified against the Edgbaston scorecard and match report, 9–12 September 2026.
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