England vs Pakistan: 'Chickens come home to roost' for PCB as 'dismal' batting sees tourists bowled out within 34 overs in final Test
Pakistan's crisis-hit series against England worsened on day one of the third Test when they were bowled out for 133 within 34 overs; the third Test between England and Pakistan, at Edgbaston, continues live on Sky Sports on Thursday, September 10
Wednesday 9 September 2026 19:18, UK
It is not unreasonable to say that Pakistan entered the third Test of their three-match series against England with a dark cloud over them - off-field issues, coupled with the underwhelming on-field displays, combining to create the perfect storm.
"Unprecedented" was the word used by Sky Sports Cricket's Michael Atherton to describe the upheaval that has occurred over the last week in response to heavy losses at Headingley and Lords.
Seven players were sent home, head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and assistant Umar Gul were replaced, and an investigation began into "media reports concerning discipline and conduct".
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If those actions were aimed at provoking a response, the Pakistan Cricket Board did not get the one it would have been after on day one at Edgbaston.
On the eve of the third Test, Root dismissed suggestions that Pakistan have shown "no fight" in the series as disrespectful to both teams.
But after four hours of day one Josh Tongue (4-42), Ollie Robinson (3-15), and Jofra Archer (3-25) had cleaned them up with relative ease.
By over 10, Pakistan were four down with just 29 runs on the board. It took England 11 more overs to take three more wickets, Pakistan posting just 71 more runs by lunch with a dismal 110-7 on the board.
Things were wrapped up by the 34th over, a total of 133 all the visitors could muster on what was described in the Sky Sports commentary box as a "blameless" pitch. It has been a low-scoring summer, but this was low even by those standards.
But was any other outcome expected? Or was the display delivered actually the most likely amid an extremely testing set of circumstances.
"A thoroughly miserable batting performance from them," said Atherton.
"It is a batting line-up woefully low on confidence, " he later added.
"The decision to send seven players home - the chickens are coming home to roost. You cannot treat players like that and expect to build confidence in a side.
"Everybody who plays professional sport knows that if you play badly, the axe is going to fall.
"For all the criticism that has been made, just bear the context in mind that this Pakistan team looks dispirited - and there is a reason for that."
Pakistan's issues have been laid bare, and it is not going to be a quick fix. If they lose this, they will have one victory in their last seven Tests.
Couple that with the clear unrest and more upheaval seems almost inevitable.
"When I saw what happened, you could almost not see where the inspiration would come from - with the skill, the experience, and the alien conditions," said Sky Sports Cricket's Urooj Mumtaz.
"But to top all of it, the turbulent conditions and the manner in which [the changes were made to the side].
"The captain was not aware of anything.
"Underwhelming, absolutely no competition, and this is the worst we've seen so far."
'Impossible' to play good cricket with off-field turmoil
So was it too big an ask of Pakistan to even muster up a semblance of fight?
Sky Sports Cricket's Stuart Broad said: "It looks like a really difficult environment to play in.
"You often talk about playing with freedom, playing without fear but the worst place you can be is feeling you need 20 or 30 runs to stay in the team - you never warm together as a group.
"It's really impossible to play good cricket when you have that many off-field problems going."
Pakistan find solace in debutant Razaullah
England ended day one with a narrow lead of 23 runs after losing four wickets. Two of them came from "bright spark" Razaullah (2-42), who provided Pakistan with some hope on his debut.
The 21-year-old hit speeds of over 90mph and took the key wicket of Joe Root to reinvigorate his team and show that the future of Pakistan cricket still has potential.
On day two, it will be about whether the youngster can continue his strong showing with ball in hand to make his side's poor batting performance count for as little as possible.
"Pakistan have been calling out for something different from their bowlers for a long while," said Sky Sports Cricket's Nasser Hussain.
"It is nice to watch that spell from Razaullah that had something, that had a point of difference, had some pace.
"It hurried one of the greatest batters there has ever been in Joe Root, and got him out."
England vs Pakistan - results and schedule
All games live on Sky Sports
- First Test (Headingley) - England won by innings and 103 runs
- Second Test (Lord's) - England won by 194 runs
- Third Test (Edgbaston) - September 9-13
