Pakistan's Top Order Crashes to Historic Low Against England

At Edgbaston, under a sky that couldn’t quite decide between sunshine and drizzle, Pakistan’s top order produced something no side has ever managed in a Test innings in England. And not in a way anyone will want to remember.

All five of Pakistan’s top batters fell for single figures in their first innings, the first time in Test history in England that a top five has been wiped out so cheaply at the start of an innings. It has happened 11 times before in Tests, but always in a second-innings collapse. This was new territory — and the kind no touring side wants to explore.

By the time Pakistan slumped to 60-5, the numbers were already brutal. The mood matched them.

Records Tumble, Confidence Crumbles

Statistician Andy Zaltzman framed the scale of the crisis. Across this series in England, Pakistan’s second wicket has fallen with the score on 6 and 13 at Leeds, 16 and 7 at Lord’s, and now 14 here. That’s just 56 runs in total before the fall of the second wicket in the series, an average stand of 5.6 for the first wicket and 11.2 when the second goes.

They are closing in on a record set by Australia in 1888, when their second wicket averaged just 16 across a series in England. More than a century on, Pakistan are threatening to undercut that mark by some distance.

The most damning part? This isn’t a minefield. It’s a decent Test pitch.

Tongue’s Thunderbolt Floors Babar

England’s seamers sensed vulnerability and attacked it ruthlessly. Josh Tongue, fast and bristling with intent, tore into the Pakistan captain to cap a ferocious opening burst.

Running in full of rhythm, Tongue went full, quick and angling in. The ball cannoned into the top of off stump. Babar Azam, rooted in the crease and playing back, never came close to it. Bowled for 7. Pakistan 48-5, their figurehead gone, their innings in tatters.

On BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, Aatif Nawaz captured the mood: Tongue had “cleaned up the Pakistan captain.” It looked like a procession, and it felt like one.

Tongue ended his first over with that wicket, England’s dominance underlined by the sheer simplicity of the dismissal: good pace, attacking length, stumps everywhere.

Saud Fights Back Amid the Ruins

In the middle of the wreckage, Saud Shakeel offered a reminder of what batting is supposed to look like.

Twice, he leaned into glorious cover drives, easing the ball through extra cover with a languid flourish that jarred with the chaos around him. Each boundary only sharpened the contrast: this was a proper Test pitch, one that rewarded timing and technique. Pakistan’s top order simply hadn’t found either.

Saud then pushed his luck. Throwing his hands at a wider ball, he inside-edged one that flashed past leg stump for four. Loose, fortunate, but still runs. Later in the over, he found the middle again, threading another crisp stroke through the covers.

For a brief spell, he looked like the only Pakistan batter playing on his own terms.

Atkinson’s Frustration, Duckett’s Drops

Gus Atkinson replaced Jofra Archer and immediately stirred the game again. He has just one wicket in the series, costing 125 runs, a figure that flatters no one. Yet his bowling has deserved more.

That theme continued. At 43-4, he drew a thick edge from Saud, who flung his bat at a hint of width. The ball flew high and fast to first slip. Ben Duckett got a hand to it but couldn’t cling on. A second drop of the morning for him, this one tougher than the first, but another chance gone.

Atkinson walked back, still short on wickets, still bowling better than his figures suggest.

Robinson Probes, Pakistan Edge Towards Infamy

Ollie Robinson stuck to a fuller length that had worked all morning, occasionally mixing in a rare short ball. Saud pulled one of those through square leg, only for sharp fielding in the deep to deny him a boundary. Robinson responded with a pair of neat away swingers, the sort that keep batters pinned to the crease and thinking twice.

When Robinson strayed down the leg side, four byes dribbled away off Jamie Smith’s gloves, edging Pakistan closer not to safety, but to an unwanted milestone: their lowest ever Test total. A thick edge from Saud added a couple more as the rain began to drift in again over Edgbaston.

For a few moments, the weather threatened to intervene. During the drinks break, the covers rolled halfway on before the rain eased and the umpires waved them away. Play continued. So did Pakistan’s ordeal.

At 35-4, then 37-4, then 48-5 and 60-5, every update seemed to carve another line into the record books. England’s seamers hunted relentlessly. Pakistan’s batters searched for answers that never came.

On a day when the surface asked fair questions, England replied with discipline and pace. Pakistan replied with a collapse that will echo through their tour, and perhaps through their planning for a long time to come.