Sohail and Rahat make key inroads

Lunch England 100 for 3 (Vince 16*, Ballance 18*) v PakistanScorecard

In the previous Test, Pakistan could not remove Alastair Cook and Joe Root until the match had been shaped in England’s in favour but at Edgbaston they were both dismissed before lunch on the opening day as Misbah-ul-Haq was initially vindicated in his decision to bowl first.

England had stumbled to 75 for 3 with Cook’s dismissal for 45 – lbw to Rahat Ali – tilting the morning in Pakistan’s favour before the under-pressure middle-order pair of James Vince and Gary Ballance began a recovery operation up to lunch as, in typical Edgbaston fashion, runs flowed at a brisk rate.

The first two strikes had gone to Sohail Khan, who made a significant impact on his return to the Pakistan Test side after a gap of nearly five years. Sohail’s inclusion, at the expense of Wahab Riaz, meant Pakistan had a frontline right-arm seamer for the first time in the series and by the interval he had the scalps of Alex Hales and, crucially, Root from an impressive eight-over opening spell. It meant that Sohail’s Test average, which stood at 245.00 when play began, had descended into double figures.

No side …

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