Cricket-Robinson strikes twice as England close in on Pakistan whitewash

Cricket - Third Test - England v Pakistan - Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham, Britain - September 10, 2026 England's Ollie Robinson celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Abdullah Shafique, caught by Joe Root Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

BIRMINGHAM, England, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Ollie Robinson continued ⁠his outstanding summer with two wickets in his opening over as England pushed Pakistan towards defeat in the third test ⁠at Edgbaston on Thursday.

Robinson, man of the match in the first two tests, struck with the first ball of Pakistan’s ‌second innings and again three deliveries later to leave England closing in on a 3-0 series whitewash.

The demoralised tourists reached 52-2 before rain ended play early on day two, needing 268 runs to make England bat again.

Robinson, 32, has been almost unplayable in this series, taking 21 wickets at an average of under seven runs each.

He continued in the ​same vein in Birmingham, removing Saim Ayub, who was dismissed for a duck in ⁠both innings, and then Abdullah Shafique to finish the day ⁠with figures of 2-10 from his six overs.

"He’s probably one of the most consistent bowlers in world cricket. He knows what he’s doing ⁠with ‌the ball and he wears you down a bit so it’s a challenge,” said Pakistan batting coach Mike Smith.

"He has bowled exceptionally well and he’s in a little purple patch as a player. We need to find a way to combat that as well as ⁠we can."

Shan Masood, who was dropped at slip by Ben Duckett off Gus Atkinson, ​was stillthere on 21 at the close, ‌alongside opener Azan Awais on 29, but Pakistan's position appears hopeless.

England, who led by 23 overnight, had earlier pressed the accelerator ⁠to extend their first-innings ​advantage to a daunting 320.

They made 453 with Harry Brook and Dan Lawrence extending their fifth-wicket partnership to 86 until Brook set off for an impossible single and was run out by Masood for 75 from 97 balls.

Lawrence went on to make 65 from 82 balls before dragging a wide ball onto his stumps to ⁠give Mohammad Imran his first test wicket. It was a third test half-century ​in a row for Lawrence, who was recalled after a two-year absence for this series.

"I'm really happy with how I've contributed," said Lawrence. "I was feeling really good today, got on a bit of a roll with Brooky and went with it.

"I thought I was going to make a really big ⁠score to be honest. It wasn’t to be but I think if I’d been offered 65 at the start of the day I’d have taken it."

There was also a welcome half-century from the out-of-form Jamie Smith, who overcame an uncertain start and a finger injury, which caused him to hand over the wicketkeeping gloves to Jordan Cox,to strike 69 off 84 balls including one six and nine fours.

It was his highest test score ​since a second-innings 88 against India on the same ground 14 months ago.

Robinson chimed in with a ⁠50 of his own, which included a huge six into the Hollies Stand off Mohammad Abbas, before becoming Razaullah’s fourth victim.

The blooding of the 21-year-old, ​who had only played eight first-class games prior to his call-up, was one of the ‌few positives for Pakistan.

While he was expensive – he conceded 148 runs off ​his 23 overs – he posed a threat with his pace and aggression.

Razaullah may represent a brighter future for Pakistan, but the present remains bleak for a team that has lost 15 of its last 20 tests.

(Reporting by Neil SquiresEditing by Toby Davis)

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板球 - 第三场测试赛 - 英格兰对阵巴基斯坦 - 英国伯明翰埃德巴斯顿板球场 - 2026年9月10日 英格兰队的奥利·罗宾逊在拿下巴基斯坦队的阿卜杜拉·沙菲克的出局后与队友庆祝，沙菲克的球被乔·鲁特接住。（图片来源：路透社/安德鲁·博耶斯）

英格兰伯明翰，9 月 10 日（路透社）——奥利·罗宾逊延续了他出色的夏季表现，在周四埃德巴斯顿举行的第三场测试赛中，他在第一局就拿下两分，帮助英格兰队将巴基斯坦队推向失败。

罗宾逊在前两场测试赛中均获得全场最佳球员称号，他在巴基斯坦第二局的第一球就取得了突破，并在三球之后再次得分，使英格兰队距离3-0横扫巴基斯坦队的目标越来越近。

士气低落的客队在第二天因雨提前结束比赛前，以 52-2 的比分领先，需要 268 分才能让英格兰队再次上场击球。

32岁的罗宾逊在本系列赛中几乎无人能敌，以不到7分的平均成绩拿下21个三柱门。

在伯明翰，他延续了同样的势头，先是淘汰了在两局比赛中均未得分的赛姆·阿尤布，然后又淘汰了阿卜杜拉·沙菲克，最终以六局 2-​​10 的成绩结束了当天的比赛。

巴基斯坦击球教练迈克·史密斯说：“他可能是世界板球界最稳定的投手之一。他知道如何控制球，而且他会消耗你的体力，所以这对他来说是一个挑战。”

“他最近投球状态极佳，正处于职业生涯的巅峰时期。我们需要想办法尽可能地应对这种情况。”

沙恩·马苏德在比赛结束时仍然以21分留在场上，而本·达克特在接球时被格斯·阿特金森漏接，此时他与开局球员阿赞·阿瓦伊斯一起以29分留在场上，但巴基斯坦的处境似乎毫无希望。

英格兰队昨晚领先 23 分，此前他们加大了进攻力度，将第一局的优势扩大到了惊人的 320 分。

他们拿下 453 分，哈里·布鲁克和丹·劳伦斯将他们的第五个三柱门合作延长到 86 分，直到布鲁克试图跑一个不可能的单打，结果被马苏德跑出局，以 97 球 75 分的成绩出局。

劳伦斯随后以82球拿下65分，但随后将一个偏离球的球击中球门柱，被穆罕默德·伊姆兰拿下，这也是伊姆兰在测试赛中的第一个三柱门。这是劳伦斯连续第三场测试赛取得半百，他在缺席两年后重返国家队参加本次系列赛。

劳伦斯说：“我对自己的表现非常满意。我今天感觉状态很好，和布鲁克配合得也很默契，就一直保持着这种状态。”

“说实话，我以为我能赢一大笔钱。结果没能如愿，但我想如果今天一开始就有人给我65分，我也会接受的。”

状态不佳的杰米·史密斯也打出了令人欣慰的半百，他克服了开局的不稳定和手指受伤（导致他将守门员手套交给乔丹·考克斯），在 84 个球中击出 69 分，其中包括 1 个六分球和 9 个四分球。

这是他自 14 个月前在同一场地对阵印度队时第二局取得 88 分以来的最高测试赛得分。

罗宾逊也贡献了50分，其中包括一记击中霍利斯看台的六分球，对手是穆罕默德·阿巴斯，之后他成为了拉扎乌拉的第四个受害者。

这位 21 岁的小将此前只参加过 8 场一级联赛，他的入选是巴基斯坦队为数不多的积极因素之一。

虽然他的失分很高——23 局丢了 148 分——但他凭借速度和侵略性构成了威胁。

拉扎乌拉或许代表着巴基斯坦更光明的未来，但对于一支在过去20场测试赛中输掉15场的球队来说，目前的形势依然黯淡。

（尼尔·斯奎尔斯报道，托比·戴维斯编辑）

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