Dan Lawrence was “gutted” at blowing the prospect of a first international century despite helping England’s push for a 3-0 Test series clean sweep of hapless Pakistan.
Lawrence was one of five England players who amassed between 50 and 75 in their mammoth 453 all out, giving them a 320-run lead before Pakistan closed on 52 for two in their second innings at Edgbaston, still 268 runs away from making their opponents bat again.
Against a ball that was just over 60 overs old and with Pakistan’s attack flagging, Lawrence emitted a shout of frustration when he dragged on to his stumps off Mohammad Imran to be dismissed for 65.
While he was happy with his overall output, Lawrence recognises he missed a glorious chance to cement his England spot, having been recalled for this series after the retirement of Ben Stokes.
Lawrence, who made 51 at Headingley and 54 at Lord’s in this series, said: “I’m obviously gutted that I didn’t kick on and make a really big score, but I was pretty happy with how I did overall.
“I felt like I was playing really nicely and it was a really good surface to bat on against the tiring attack. I thought I was going to make a really big score to be honest, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“I’ve missed out on two chances to make really big scores and really big contributions – at Headingley and here.
“But I’m quite happy with how I’ve played. I’ve got three fifties in four innings (in this series), which is pretty good. I think if I was offered 65 at the start of the day, I’d have taken it.”
After Harry Brook ran himself out for 75, Jamie Smith defied an injury to his left ring finger suffered while keeping up to the stumps to Ollie Robinson on day one to amass a dashing 69.
Lawrence said: “Jamie seemed OK when I was batting with him. He was in great rhythm, but he certainly didn’t mention it. But for someone with a dodgy finger, I thought he played beautifully.”
Smith was unable to keep wicket when Pakistan batted for the second time, with Jordan Cox taking on gloveman duties, as Robinson followed up his 50 off 47 balls with a double breakthrough in his first over to hasten England’s charge.
Robinson found the outside edges of Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique to leave Pakistan nought for two and there appeared a fleeting possibility of a two-day result for the first time in England since 2000.
But once Azan Awais (29 not out) and Shan Masood (21no) had steadied Pakistan, a second rain shower just after 5pm brought an early end to day two at 5.30pm, albeit with England set to wrap up victory on Friday.
Robinson has been the star of the series with 21 wickets at a preposterous average of 6.66 – when he dismissed Shafique for the fifth time in six innings, it was 6.19 – and Lawrence, one of England’s slip fielders, admitted the cordon have to be on red alert when the seamer is bowling.
Lawrence added: “When he’s bowling, when he’s putting it in the same spot pretty much every ball, you always feel in the game.
“The wickets have offered quite a lot to us as well and all the seamers. You certainly do feel in the game behind the stumps, especially when you’ve got someone pretty much at the peak of his powers.”
