England v Pakistan, 3rd Test Day Three: Five Things We Learned

England complete a brilliant 141-run win at Edgbaston to go 2-1 up in the series against Pakistan. Here’s what we learned…

MAN OF THE MATCH – MOEEN ALI

With 149 runs and two wickets on the final day, Moeen Ali sealed the man of the match award. It was pretty representative of a team effort from England, with five bowlers sharing the 10-wicket workload on the final day. As such, it all came down to the bat, and after a crucial 63 in the first innings to help England to 297, he completed an unbeaten 86 this morning to help his side turn a 103-run deficit to a lead of 342. Coming out this morning, he smashed 19 from the first over, which included two gorgeous sixes off Yasir Shah over wide mid on. Having ensured a lead that Pakistan would struggle to go after if wickets were consistent, he dismissed Azhar Ali to break a partnership of 73 then held on to a full blooded hack to bring the match to a close.

THE COLLAPSE

Four wickets for one run. Shambolic. That’s the only word for it. A middle order who should no better, with players who have batted sustained periods of time on countless occasions, all found wanting one after another. Let’s not forget Mohammad Hafeez at the top, the first to fall, who’s down-to-up pull shot to Chris Woakes was an absolute abomination and should see him out of the side for the decider.

THE RESISTANCE

Before Pakistan were put out of their misery, there was still time for their full-time batsmen to be put to shame by numbers 10 and 11. Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali, the last pair, put on the second longest partnership at 11.1 overs and managed the second most runs with 50 for the 10th wicket. And a nod, to the top of the order once more, to Sami Aslam, whose 70 was well above anything we’ve seen from Pakistan openers this series. That the selectors ignored him to persist with Shan Masood (or even Hafeez) is staggering.

FINN’S REDEMPTION

Part 15, by our count. It is hard to remember the last time Steven Finn bowled without constant scrutiny over every inch of his bowling – the run up, the tumbling, the delivery itself. Slowly but surely, he has been steadily finding his groove, bowling well in the second innings of the Lord’s Test and then the intervening period away with Middlesex. After having catches dropped in the first innings of this Test, you wondered if the Gods were trying to tell him something. But first he removed Misbah with a pristine outswinger and then removed the impressive Aslam, who left outside off stump and lost his off stump to a ball that move in sharply from around the wicket.

ON TO THE OVAL

An unchanged England squad - this XI plus Adil Rashid and Jake Ball - will make their way to south London this week knowing a win will see them top the ICC Test rankings. James Vince, who left the field after getting finger tips on a sharp chance at third slip, has already had an X-ray which was shown there is no fracture and is expected to get one last chance at the Oval. As for Pakistan, they need to pull something out of the fire to salvage the series. And that will involve binning Mohammad Hafeez and Younus Khan, who both seem to have run their races in Test cricket. Given how impressive Aslam has been, why not blood another young batsman in a key position? They can’t do much worse.