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England show no mercy as Pakistan bowled out for 133 on day one at Edgbaston
STRONG FORM: England fast bowler Josh Tongue

ENGLAND’S on-song seamers showed no mercy to Pakistan as the tourists were bowled out for a pitiful 133 on the opening day of the third Test at Edgbaston today.

Josh Tongue claimed four for 42 while there were three wickets apiece for Ollie Robinson and Jofra Archer as Pakistan’s banishment of seven players and two coaches after falling 2-0 down in the three-match series seems to have had no impact on their fortunes.

The hosts lost Ben Duckett and Jordan Cox to go to tea on 35 for two although the pitch appears relatively blameless, albeit with cloud cover — the floodlights have been on all day — providing a hint of movement for the fast bowlers.

Predictably it was the metronomic Robinson who made the breakthrough, reaching 100 Test wickets as he continued a sensational summer, averaging just 7.96 with the ball since being recalled to the side.

Azan Awais and Shan Masood both got into awkward positions from innocuous Archer deliveries and succeeded only in bunting tame catches into the leg-side, while Abdullah Shafique perished to Robinson for the fourth time in five innings after edging low to Dan Lawrence at gully.

When Tongue found the top of off-stump, breaking it, to see off Babar Azam, Pakistan’s top-five were all dismissed for single figures – the first time that has happened in the first innings of a Test.

Tongue, though, continued to challenge the stumps and saw off debutants Ghazi Ghori and Mohammad Imran, while Razaullah, the third player making his Pakistan bow, was dismissed from his first ball after lunch as he nicked Robinson to Duckett.

Shakeel’s defiance ended for 43 after he was bowled through the gate before Abbas and Ali momentarily held up England before Archer came back to bring Pakistan’s innings to an end from 33.5 overs.

Ali defied a painful blow to the ankle from Archer to open the bowling and made the breakthrough when England batted, with Duckett out for 11 after nicking a loose drive to second slip.

Cox also departed before the tea interval, rapped on the back leg by Abbas and taking a review with him.

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