There was a Pakistan fan walking around Edgbaston carrying a small blackboard on the second day. With dismal inevitability, the weather had turned by the time Pakistan actually got out to bat in their second innings and the bright sunshine that lit up England’s batting through the afternoon had been occluded by a bank of heavy grey cloud that had blown up from the south-west. They turned the floodlights on just in time for Saim Ayub and Azan Awais to go out and face up to another new-ball burst from Ollie Robinson and Jofra Archer.
The lights didn’t help anyone, if anything they only made it easier to see what was coming. This is the first first-class match Ayub has played in 11 months, since he turned out for Karachi in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy last October. The week before last he was busy hitting sixes in the West Indies, playing in the middle order for the Jamaica Kingsmen.
Fair to say that however many throwdowns he fitted in after being flown in for Pakistan, none of it did a whole lot to prepare him for the job of opening the batting in a Test match. He couldn’t help himself but try to drive the very first ball Robinson bowled, and of course was caught at second slip. In came Abdullah Shafique.
Robinson had got him four times in five innings in this series. Three balls later, Shafique edged the ball to first slip, and it was five in six. That made it a double-wicket maiden.
By stumps he had figures of 6-3-10-2. Never mind the 1980s trend, this is the 1890s trend. Robinson’s recalcitrant attitude and unreconstructed opinions have always seemed like a bit of a throwback as a cricketer, but if his average drops any lower he’ll have to start playing in a top hat and handlebar moustache.
He’s taken 21 wickets at 6.66 so far in this series, which is the kind of bowling average that’s usually accompanied by a black-and-white photo and an obituary. It is the lowest bowling average ever recorded by an Englishman in a series of three, four or more matches in this country. Robinson’s now up near the top of lists that have remained unchanged in the annals for the large part of 100 years.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
