Pakistan Set Unwanted Test Record in Edgbaston Collapse

Pakistan set an unwanted Test record during a severe top-order collapse against England at Edgbaston, becoming the first team to have all five of their leading batters dismissed for single figures in the first innings of a Test. BBC Sport reported that the tourists reached lunch at 100-7 on the opening day of the third Test on Wednesday.

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The top five were all gone with only 48 runs on the scoreboard. BBC Sport said it was the 12th time in Test history that a team's first five batters had each failed to reach double figures, but the first occurrence in the opening innings of a match. England had chosen to bowl after Joe Root won the toss in overcast conditions.

Ollie Robinson began the slide by trapping Saim Ayub lbw for a duck with the total on eight. Jofra Archer then removed Azan Awais for nine and Shan Masood for two, while Robinson had Abdullah Shafique caught at gully for six. Josh Tongue bowled Babar Azam for seven to complete the historic top-five sequence at 48-5.

Tongue added two more wickets before lunch. Test debutant Ghazi Ghori was lbw for four, and Mohammad Imran was bowled by a yorker for eight. Saud Shakeel survived the session and helped Pakistan reach 100, but the loss of seven wickets in 23 overs left the innings in deep difficulty.

Pakistan's repeated early losses across the series have also put another longstanding mark under threat. The team's second wicket has fallen at totals of six and 13 at Leeds, 16 and seven at Lord's, and 14 at Edgbaston. BBC Sport calculated an average score of 11.2 at the fall of the second wicket, below the series record of 16 set by Australia in England in 1888. The series is still in progress, so that figure can change.

The conditions offered England some assistance, although the collapse was not attributed solely to the pitch. BBC Sport cited CricViz data giving the surface a bounce-inconsistency rating of 5.7, higher than figures recorded at Edgbaston in the previous three years. Pakistan's false-shot rate in the morning session was reported at 40%, the second-highest for the opening session of a Test since 2006. Play and Pakistan's first innings were continuing after the reported lunch score.