Birmingham
\nRuthless England tamed Pakistan\u2019s inexperienced attack in the third Test at Edgbaston on Thursday to move to the brink of a series whitewash against their hapless opponents.
\nJoe Root\u2019s men, already 2-0 up in the three-match contest, were dismissed for 453 on the second day of the match to take a first-innings lead of 320, threatening to wrap up victory in double-quick time.
\nEngland rattled along on a sunny morning in Birmingham, with Dan Lawrence reaching his half-century off just 47 balls, hitting eight fours.
\nBut their progress was checked when Harry Brook needlessly ran himself out for 75 when in sight of an 11th Test century.
\nBrook tossed his bat into the air in frustration as his partnership with Lawrence was ended at 86, leaving England 229-5.
\nThe scoring slowed briefly after Jamie Smith arrived at the crease but he soon showed his attacking intent, launching the ball straight back over the head of spinner Saim Ayub for six.
\nLawrence (65) chopped a ball from Mohammad Imran onto his stumps shortly before lunch to give the all-rounder his first Test wicket.
\nGus Atkinson was bowled by Imran for 19 but, as the clouds rolled in, the home side maintained the momentum established by the middle and lower orders.
\nSmith\u2019s promising innings ended with a whimper when he was caught and bowled for 69 by Razaullah, who celebrated his third wicket on his Test debut with gusto.
\nBut Ollie Robinson hit 50 off 47 balls and fellow paceman Jofra Archer smashed a quickfire 32 to heap more pain on Pakistan.
\nRazaullah finished as the pick of the bowlers, with figures of 4-148.
\nThe tourists are seeking to avoid a 16th Test defeat in 21 matches at the end of a turbulent tour.
\nThey released seven players and sacked head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and assistant Umar Gul after their 194-run defeat in the second Test, making four changes to their side in Birmingham.
\nBut their new-look team were dismissed for a paltry 133, failing to reach 200 for the fifth consecutive innings in England, with none of the top five making double figures.
\nPakistan reduced England to 39-3 but opener Emilio Gay scored 60 on Wednesday to settle their nerves before he was dismissed.
\nA 3-0 win at the start of Root\u2019s second stint as the permanent skipper would be a huge boost for a side that was in turmoil just weeks ago following a series loss to New Zealand and the exits of head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Birmingham Ruthless England tamed Pakistan\u2019s inexperienced attack in the third Test at Edgbaston on Thursday to move to the brink of a series whitewash against their hapless opponents. Joe Root\u2019s men, already 2-0 up in the three-match contest, were dismissed for 453 on the second day of the match to take a first-innings lead of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":102835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102852,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102840\/revisions\/102852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}