England vs Pakistan: Debutant Razaullah helps frustrate England on day three with dazzling display

0:01Eoin Morgan:Yeah, gone! Gone! He gets his fairytale ending! An Ippet way to go to a Test Match 100. The London Spirit of First Time Winners! The most remarkable thing you'll probably ever see in cricket! 604 and final Test Wicket for Stuart Wall. It's ended when the T20 World Cup. England's captain Ben Stokes, while he is there, England have hope.

0:31Ian Ward:Hello and welcome to the review of day three from the third test match at Edgbaston. It has been by far and away the best day of the tour for this beleaguered Pakistan side. They started 52 for two on the morning of day three, 268 runs behind, and you would have got very, very short odds indeed on England not wrapping the Pakistan innings up before they had reduced that deficit to nothing. As it happened, Pakistan fought unbelievably hard. I've got Chris Wokes and Owen Morgan alongside me. It has been a quite extraordinary day. We'll start at the beginning with Azana Wais and Shan Masood. Morgi, fight, technique, guts, courage, the whole lot.

1:15Ian Ward:And that partnership looked as though it was going to take Pakistan to some sort of safety.

1:20Razaullah:Yeah, certainly. And considering where it started as well, late last night, both of them starting afresh. Pakistan's back against the wall, 0 for 2 and then starting again, I think there were 52 for 2 overnight. Starting again, all of the characteristics of good test match batting we saw again during that first session. So character, fight and just really good defence. I know it sounds simple but in a testing summer for batters, they backed their defence when the ball was there to hit. They didn't try and over hit it or get too excited. They were very composed and created a level of calm, actually, for a period of time.

2:00Razaullah:And it was nice. It was a nice feeling about it. Full house here today at Edgbaston. The crowd were up. They absolutely loved it because it was test match cricket as we know it. It wasn't in fast forward mode at all. But full credit to both. England had no answers for a long period of time. They were out skilled during that partnership and eventually had to turn to Dan Lawrence, who snagged one down the leg side very fortunately to break that partnership. But a lot of good signs early in the day for Pakistan.

2:28Ian Ward:Yeah, 125-run partnership between Azana Wais and Shah Massoud. Azana Wais, only 21 years of age. But look, Pakistan are rebuilding. It seems like they're always rebuilding. But they've got a couple of young fellas who look as though they have the character and, of course, the requisite skill to succeed at test level. Azana Wais, did he impress you?

2:48Chris Woakes:He did, he did. I think as Morgie said, I think the most impressive thing was how he got forward and how he got back and defended the ball under his eyes.

2:56Razaullah:A lot has been said about the Pakistan top order in particular and how they've played and how they haven't played more importantly.

3:02Chris Woakes:They've given their wickets away, they've played away from their body. And on a surface where it was a little bit easier for batting, a little bit easier paced, he played well. And as you say, I think the fact that he's come in and the way Pakistan have played all series, it showed there was a little bit of a positivity there. And actually, moving forward, hopefully, going forward, he can actually be something that they can rely on moving forward.

3:28Ian Ward:He might get a run. You never know. That would be unusual, but it would be welcome, you would imagine, from a Pakistan point of view. And what about England's bowlers during that first session? They were made to work very hard. There wasn't the lateral movement that we've seen. Did they show enough patience, I suppose, in order to hold a line when things weren't going well enough for them?

3:51Chris Woakes:Probably not, to be honest with you, Butch. I think they probably fell into the trap of the ball's been doing a lot all series and your margins are probably a little bit bigger as a team. They've gone on a surface where it hasn't done as much for the seam. There's a little bit easier paced, better for batting, and you need to hone in on your areas a little bit more. and not be able to give away the stumps, top of off, and you're bound to be on the money. So I think they probably just fell into that trap of not being as accurate as they probably could be. On the surface, it didn't give as much margin for error.

4:29Chris Woakes:As you said, they leaked a little bit, didn't they? Ollie Robinson was good in terms of his economy rate, but the other bowlers really leaked. There was always a boundary ball in their overs. When that happens, it's a bit tricky to captain because at one point they had sweepers out both sides. They actually probably needed to bring one of those guys up and actually bowl one side of the wicket. They leaked both sides for a long period of time.

4:54Ian Ward:Shah Massoud and Baba Razam then had a decent partnership. Shah Massoud, who's probably under pressure, 37 years of age now, there are all these changes all the time for Pakistan. He made an excellent 95, fell agonisingly short, brilliant catch from Dan Lawrence. And it looked at that moment that England were going to run through him and that would be all she wrote.

5:15Razaullah:Yeah, absolutely. And throughout the course of every Test match, you're looking for little periods of play, particularly when you take wickets or a big wicket and there is an opportunity to change momentum. You're bowling to a new batter who has potentially been sitting, waiting to bat for two, three hours, not concentrating or you catch him off guard, he's most vulnerable when he gets to the crease. So that incredible catch at Gulley, diving one-handed away to his right from Dan Lawrence was something special, one of the catches of the summer, certainly. And you felt as if England had an opportunity to try and turn things around in that way, but it didn't eventuate that way.

5:56Razaullah:I thought Baberazan played as well as he has done in the four innings this summer.

6:01Ian Ward:He looked, technically, he looked in fabulous shape, didn't he? Until England went to the short ball ploy. England had been frustrated to that point to such an extent that, you know, the ball had perhaps gone a little soft. There wasn't the lateral movement. So Joe Roo called upon the short ball ploy and everything changed from that moment.

6:18Razaullah:Yeah, it did. And here, everybody said it, Babar will say it himself, the more he bats, the better and more rhythm that he will find. But as it stands at the moment today, he was a lot better. And I think the short ball thing, you know, if we were playing a five-test match series by the time we'd play fourth and fifth test match, he'll be back to the player that we know. So it was good to see him back in form and under huge pressure, considering all of the off-field decisions that are being made, the distractions, the seven changes in the squad that they made leading into this game, the three debutants coming in.

6:53Razaullah:When you get your principal skill as captain, if you can produce something, it makes a world of difference.

6:59Ian Ward:Babba ended up with 76 on the ball from 103 deliveries, was very, very fluent, but fell foul of the short ball. Now, Joffre Archer made a real mess of him at Lord's, didn't he, with that dismissal that will haunt him, probably. It's one of those replays that you'll see probably for the rest of your career. England went to the short ball with him. He ducked under a few and then decided to try and take it on. Had three or four different occasions within the space of ten balls where he could have been dismissed. Eventually, Josh Tung got him down the leg side to a ball that he really ought to have swayed away.

7:29Ian Ward:Is that going to be a problem for Babak? Because bowlers are going to see that and go, listen, we're just going to go at his head.

7:35Chris Woakes:Well, it'll certainly be something that teams look at moving forward, won't it? You'd be silly not to, I think, especially when you first come to the crease. We've all played enough crease. It's the last probably place you want it, to be honest, especially when it's high pace. So teams will definitely look there. I think, as you said, Butch,

7:50Razaullah:he got out of the way of the first few and didn't look like he was going to play a game with the field that was set for the short ball ploy.

7:57Chris Woakes:But he then decided to change his mind and played at a couple. And it was actually more the following over, wasn't it? He played a couple nicely from Josh Tongue. And then when he came the following over to Joffre Arche, it felt like those scars from Lourdes may have just come out. He started to back away a little bit and was trying to play at every single ball. Nearly got caught on the fence from an uppercut. He just got a little bit frantic when actually his innings had been the opposite. He played beautifully, had good balance. It was very much the Baba of old. And then that short ball plan certainly changed it for him.

8:30Ian Ward:It certainly did. Well, I mean, that, again, England probably thought that that might be the end of the story. There was a little bit more resistance once Sian and Baba had gone. Saad, Shaquille made 29. He also fell foul of the short ball ploy to Joffre Archer. Ghazi Ghori made 16. Mohamed Imran, 4. And at this point, Pakistan, 318 for 8, needing two more runs to make England bat again. And we're all kind of looking at the train times, thinking we're heading back to London this evening. The main part of today's story, basically, has been provided by young Raza Ullah, who had no idea that he was flying over to England.

9:03Ian Ward:It was his very first tour. He's making his debut. He bowled with great gusto, great heart, great pace, and looked as though he was born to do it. And with the bat, well, as we speak at the moment, he is 75 not out from 59 deliveries, having hit eight sixes. He has smashed Joffre Archer into Worcestershire on a couple of occasions. It has been quite remarkable. And at the moment, because of him and the very plucky Muhammad Abbas, who was dismissed by Josh Tung for 42, Pakistan are now in the lead by 123. Now, a lot of talk around the Pakistan squad that initially arrived, that there were a lot of sort of older players, players who perhaps passed their best in the squad, particularly as far as the bowling is concerned.

9:49Ian Ward:And Raza Ullah seems to be the sort of guy that Pakistan in the past would have thrown in. And they seem to have gone away from that. They've gone back to it, and this guy is lighting up test match cricket as we speak.

9:59Razaullah:And exactly what you talked about with the ball he's bringing to the bat. That energy, that enthusiasm, and ultimately the skill. The sixes, he's just hit another one. It's nine sixes now. They have all been huge. Absolutely huge. That's gone halfway up the constructed hotel here at Edgbaston. And he doesn't look phased at all, Butch. So this is the Pakistan of all. This is the Pakistan that we love. It's a nightmare to play against because you don't know what you're getting. But there's so much to love about this young, fast bowler that could potentially, from what we've seen today with the bat, could turn into an all-rounder.

10:39Ian Ward:I mean, he's 81, not out. He's just hit an absolute monster off Dan Lawrence. We haven't had 100 in this series so far. Could the first one and potentially the only one of the series be made by Raza Ullah on debut batting at number 10? It seems scarcely believable. The bowlers, Wokesy, they went to the short ball ploy. They seemed not reluctant, but it seemed difficult for them to move away from that once they'd broken the partnership of the top order batters. Do you think that England's bowlers have handled this particular partnership well. I mean, they've added, what, 120, I think they added 123, 124, almost the same as Sian and Asana Ways for the 10th wicket.

11:30Ian Ward:And England seemed clueless against it. Is that fair?

11:33Chris Woakes:I think there was a lack of clarity on plan. That's the way it's it. It seemed like at the start of the partnership, it felt like they were hoping that, obviously, they were just going to fall over and be a deck of cards, typical sort of tail end, bang, bang, bang, get off the field, go and knock off the final few runs. But it was clear to see that Razzarolo could clearly play and he was out to strike the ball cleanly and he certainly did. It felt like the plan just got away from England. It wasn't very clear. At one point it was the short ball, but they also had, for Mohamed Abbas at the other end, they had no slips and almost everyone on the fence where, with all due respect, I know he was playing well, but you still feel like with a brand new ball, which they'd taken a few overs before, the slips would still be in the game.

12:21Chris Woakes:To me, it felt like they could have still used their two for the over and still challenged the outside edge, which would have, I still believe, they've got very good bowlers that have been able to challenge that edge and also bring the stumps into play. But it felt like they went away from that pretty quickly and spread the field. and Razzola certainly enjoyed his innings, which unfortunately has just come to an end.

12:43Ian Ward:Yeah, Razzola has just run past one. He survived an LBW decision. Paul Reifel stuck the finger up LBW to Dan Lawrence. It was turned over on review. Very next ball, he came flying down the pitch and missed it. Jordan Cox completed the stumping. Jordan Cox has had a terrific day as a standing wicketkeeper. So a couple of blinders, the one down the leg side to Barbara Zamp, One down the leg side off Dan Lawrence and has now finished the innings off with that stumping. With that, Razzarula out 19 shy of what would be his second first-class 100 ever. He made his first one opening the batting, funnily enough, after being made to follow on and got one off about 60 balls, which is no surprise to anybody given the way we've seen him play.

13:28Ian Ward:So 81 to him and everybody, the entire ground is standing up to applaud this young man who has brought some pride back to Pakistan cricket. That there is no question. And Pakistan, I think, lead by, what is it, 129. Yeah, 129 is the lead. And you're a betting man, Morgie. The odds when Pakistan were 90 ahead were what? Yeah, 1 ,000 to 1.

13:56Razaullah:Right. So I can't imagine it's changed a great deal. But from what we've seen, I mean, there are two bowlers that are going to win for Pakistan rights, Mohamed Abbas and the young man here with the bat. He's going to sleep well tonight. He's probably actually going to stay up and watch his highlights all evening.

14:13Chris Woakes:I would.

14:14Razaullah:Social media will be flicking through. His family will be proud as punch. You know, come in on debut. Very rarely do debuts go well. This has gone extraordinarily well with ball in hand and now bats. So there's an opportunity to do something special for them tomorrow that, you know what, stranger things have happened. But for England's point of view, they will want to get the job done as soon as possible, really. And what should have been a more convincing win, they still want to put to bed and finish this series and win 3-9.

14:44Ian Ward:Yeah, not ever whitewashed Pakistan in England have England. So that is a goal for them. 449 was the final score for Pakistan. on their previous best in the series had only been 194. So they did themselves no end of good today. For England, the bowlers had a bit of a struggle. Robinson's figure's still good, two for 54, one for 120 for Archer, three for 109 for Gus Atkinson, two for 106 for Josh Tong and two for 17 of 4.4 overs for Dan Lawrence. Miles, in the legs for England, will that be the positives that they'll be talking about and addressing them? They haven't had to do much work this summer.

15:21Ian Ward:Today they did.

15:22Chris Woakes:Yeah, and I think they're a victim of their own success in a weird way. Obviously, they've dominated the series. They're hopefully going to win 3-0 tomorrow. But I suppose it's just a reminder of how difficult test cricket can be at times. You know, when you get on a pitch where it's a little bit easier for batting.

15:41Ian Ward:Well, more of a traditional test match pitch. Yeah, just a normal test match cricket.