3rd Test: England v Pakistan at Edgbaston

50 for Bairstow. He has been positive and given England's innings some momentum. England lead by 236.

50 for Mo. He has played Yasir Shah like a fiddle today. Brilliant. He took 16 deliveries to get off the mark, and then scored 50 off the next 48 deliveries. England lead by 286.

Historically, Edgbaston has been a good pitch to bat last on with a 4th innings batting average of 30.33. 

Lead is now 300 - 5 ! 

If Pakistan is so "defensive" & England so "attacking" then why aren't Bairstow and co going after Pak bowlers to force a result here?

Pakistan's defensive bowling in the first two sessions paid off brilliantly. They hid the ball so far outside of off stump that England's batsman risked nicking off by playing at those deliveries. Sky posted a fantastic graphic showing that during the first two sessions, not one delivery from the seamers to a right-handed batsman would have gone on to hit the stumps.

The risk/reward wasn't there - especially after Cook and Hales departed very early - as Misbah set a defensive field with multiple boundary riders, and when Ballance was dismissed, England were effectively reduced to 179/5. At that point there was a very real danger of Pakistan running through the rest of the order and bowling England out by the end of the day. So England had to once again balance the attacking nature to push for a result in order to save the Test first.

Things started to slip for Pakistan once Bairstow and Moeen Ali were able to consolidate and Pakistan's four-man attack wearied. They were exceptionally tired, and England took advantage of this. The tight lines the seamers bowled in the first two sessions dissipated and England went on the offensive, scoring 152 runs off the final 36 overs after tea.

8 down .

The End Is Nigh !

9 down

Fat Lady approaching the podium

151- 9

The Fat Lady sings.

Congratulations to England !!

Brilliant 4th Innings strategy of Bowling change ups !