England vs Pakistan: Brook, Smith, Lawrence and Robinson push hosts towards third Test win

Third Rothesay Test, Edgbaston (day two of five)

Pakistan 133 (Shakeel 43; Tongue 4-42) & 52-2 (Robinson 2-10)

England 453 (Brook 75, Smith 69, Lawrence 65, Gay 60, Robinson 50; Razaullah 4-148)

Pakistan are 268 runs behind

Scorecard

England’s charge towards a two-day win in the final Test against Pakistan was only halted by rain at Edgbaston.

The tourists were battling for survival on 52-2 – 268 adrift of making England bat again – when the bad weather intervened for a second and final occasion in Birmingham.

The time was 17:07 BST. With the possibility of an extra half an hour available to force a result, play could have continued until 19:00 if conditions had allowed.

Given the fragility of the Pakistan batting – the tourists have not reached 200 or batted for more than 51 overs in the series – there was a real possibility England would earn victory inside two days after Ollie Robinson reduced the visitors to 0-2.

Instead, the players will return on Friday, when England will complete a 3-0 series clean sweep.

The eventual outcome of this match was barely in doubt when England began Thursday on 156-4, leading by 23.

Contributions of 75 from Harry Brook, 69 by Jamie Smith, 65 scored by Dan Lawrence and 50 from Robinson pushed England to 453, a huge first-innings lead of 320.

The only disappointment was that no England batter pushed on to make a century, meaning Ben Duckett’s ton against New Zealand at Trent Bridge will remain the home side’s only hundred of the summer.