Rain halts England charge with Pakistan 52-2 and 268 behind in Edgbaston cricket test

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Rain prevented England from putting Pakistan in a deeper hole than 52-2 and 268 runs behind on day two of the Edgbaston test on Thursday.

Pakistan walked out after tea 320 runs behind to begin its second innings in gloomy, lights-on conditions perfectly suited for England's four-man pace attack which has dominated the series.

Pakistan has yet to crack a 200 total, and Ollie Robinson was the man of the moment again.

Robinson got Saim Ayub to nick to the slips off the first ball and became only the fifth bowler in test history to twice take a wicket with the first ball of an innings in a series. The last person was Zaheer Khan for India against Bangladesh in 2007. Bill Voce was the only previous Englishman in 1937 against Australia.

Ayub was playing Twenty20s in the Caribbean 10 days ago but was summoned in mid-series in a panic call by the Pakistan Cricket Board to play his first test in 20 months. He bagged a pair.

Robinson struck again with his fourth ball, nicking off Abdullah Shafique.

That made Pakistan start 0-2 for the sixth time ever in tests and the second time against England. The other was at the same ground in 1982. The bowler was Ian Botham.

From 0-2, Azan Awais and Shan Masood dug out Pakistan to 52-2 in 12 overs. Awais had 29 and Masood 21 after being dropped on 13 by Ben Duckett off the luckless Gus Atkinson.

Wet weather came sooner than forecast and guaranteed Pakistan lived to fight at least one more day in a three-test series already lost. England, up 2-0, should complete the sweep on Saturday with no test going the distance.

Fifties and no hundreds again

England began the day already in front with a lead of 23 at 156-4.

In two sessions, 50 overs, they added 297 runs at a pacy 5.9, its fastest rate on any day all summer. Three more batters scored fifties to add to Emilio Gay's gritty 60 and Harry Brook's unbeaten 52 on Wednesday but the effort looked nothing like Bazball.

However, Brook, Dan Lawrence, Jamie Smith and less so Robinson would have thought a century was at their mercy.

The former trio spent more than two hours at the crease, three hours in Brook’s case, but all fell tamely and showed obvious frustration to miss out on a century on a fair pitch against a popgun attack.

Brook ran himself out on 75, Lawrence dragged on on 65, and Smith chipped back to fast bowler Razaullah Khan on 69.

Robinson's breezy 50 from 47 balls highlighted the merciless contribution from the tailenders of 116 runs and 15 boundaries.

Brook resumed on a restrained 52 and Dan Lawrence on 5, and in sunny conditions they plundered seven runs per over in the first hour.

Brook then mistakenly took on Shan Masood at midwicket and has now been involved in five run outs in tests — only Virat Kohli (6) has been in more. Brook has gone 11 tests without a century but was still averaging more than 40.

Lawrence, filling Ben Stokes' old spot, had in hand his third fifty in three tests when he chopped on. He gave up an agonizing “No” and Mohammad Imran's first test wicket.

“Bitterly disappointed to get out in the 60s,” Lawrence said. "Something I've prided myself on this season is kicking on. I really wanted a big hundred today.

“(But) at the start of the day if you offered me 65 I would've taken it. To get 450 on the board on a pitch that was pretty tricky yesterday was a really good effort.”

Pakistan still went to lunch with an air of resignation as Smith collected an unbeaten 47 of the 143 runs in the session.

Smith got his third fifty of the summer straight after lunch by crashing Razaullah through the covers, but Razaullah got him caught and bowled on 69.

No. 9 batter Robinson greeted the new ball by lofting Mohammad Abbas for six over cow corner and got his second fifty of the season from 46 balls. The entertainment was ended by a good catch from Masood in the covers.

Archer grabbed a couple of sixes and was stranded on 32.

The 21-year-old raw but fiery Razaullah led Pakistan with four expensive wickets. Parachuted into the team just last week, his average speed of 87.1 mph (141 kph) in the innings was the fastest by a Pakistan bowler since Shaheen Shah Afridi in 2021 in Rawalpindi against South Africa.

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