England piled more pain on Pakistan at Edgbaston, bowling them out for a paltry 133 before Emilio Gay and Harry Brook carried the hosts further into the ascendancy.
Josh Tongue claimed four for 42 while Ollie Robinson and Jofra Archer shared six wickets as Pakistan’s shake-up since going 2-0 down in the three-match series had minimal impact on their miserable fortunes.
Gay and Brook then made fifties to lift England to 156-4 at stumps on day one, leading by 23 with the promise of more to come on Thursday, despite captain Joe Root being out lbw for the 10th time in 13 innings.
While the floodlights were on all day amid heavy cloud cover for large spells, the pitch was relatively blameless but a Pakistan side with four changes to their side since Lord’s were cowed by England’s on-song seamers.
Robinson was magnificent, conceding just 15 runs in 11 overs, as he went from 99 to 102 Test wickets, while his average of 19.1 is the best post-war of any bowler with more than 100 dismissals.
It was unsurprising he made the breakthrough in his second over after Root opted to field and exploit the overheads, with Saim Ayub brought in for his first first-class appearance since October 2025 unwittingly Robinson’s 100th Test victim.
Ayub, one of the raft of new arrivals when Pakistan banished seven players and two coaches last week, survived one leg-before verdict but not a second, dismissed for a 10-ball duck after missing a lavish drive off Robinson coming round the wicket.
Azan Awais and Shan Masood both got into awkward positions from innocuous Archer deliveries and succeeded only in bunting tame catches into the leg-side, while Abdullah Shafique perished to Robinson for the fourth time in five innings after edging low to Dan Lawrence at gully.
When Tongue struck in his first over, obliterating the top of off-stump to send Pakistan captain Babar Azam packing, it meant all of the tourists’ top-five had all been dismissed for single figures – the first time that has happened in the first innings of a Test in England.
Saud Shakeel showed a measure of resistance after being given a reprieve on seven, with Ben Duckett dropping his second catch of the morning at first slip off the luckless Gus Atkinson.
Tongue, though, continued to challenge the stumps and saw off debutants Ghazi Ghori and Mohammad Imran, while Razaullah, the third player making his Pakistan bow, was dismissed from his first ball after lunch as he nicked Robinson to Duckett.
Shakeel’s defiance ended on 43 after a beauty from Tongue uprooted his off-stump, earning a grudging nod from the batter at being beaten all ends up, before Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Ali put on 26 for the last wicket, the highest partnership of Pakistan’s miserable innings that ended in 33.5 overs.
Ali weathered a nasty blow on his ankle from Archer but was OK to open the bowling and he made the breakthrough when Duckett’s wild slash took a thick edge and flew chest-height to second slip for 11.
Jordan Cox was pinned lbw by Abbas while England were 39-3 just after tea when 21-year-old Razaullah, operating at around 90mph, thudded into Root’s pads and get the lbw decision in his first over in Test cricket.
But Gay and Brook took the sting out of Pakistan in different ways. While Brook looked to counter-attack, Gay, who came into this Test with his spot under pressure, was initially happy to soak up pressure.
Gay, averaging 23.44 from his first five Tests albeit after batting on a succession of seam bowler-friendly pitches, did capitalise on width with several fluent drives and cuts through the off-side.
He was left writhing in agony when he inside-edged into his left leg but went on to reach his third Test half-century.
However, after a 104-run stand with Brook, Gay’s hopes of a more substantial score to ink himself into England’s plans for the winter went awry when he dragged Razaullah on to his stumps for 60.
Brook moved past 1,000 Test runs against Pakistan in just 14 innings although after haring to 40 off 45 balls, he needed a further 25 deliveries to get to his fifty, struggling late on against Abbas, in particular, before surviving to stumps on 52 not out.
