In the third Test match at Edgbaston, Birmingham, England will easily defeat the visiting Pakistan. The Men in Green scored 453 runs in the first innings after being all out for 133 on Day One. Former Test captain Alastair Cook has identified a weakness in the national team despite the Three Lions’ outstanding success.
Ben Duckett’s 113 against New Zealand at Trent Bridge is still the lone century achieved in six Test matches, despite the fact that England batsmen have recorded 22 50-plus runs this summer. As demonstrated at Edgbaston, four England batters—Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Dan Lawrence, and Emilio Gay—failed to turn their fifties into hundreds after scoring 453 runs in their opening innings of the third Test at Edgbaston. Cook described it as something that has affected the entire team and cited conditions and the ball remaining hard for 80 overs as significant reasons.
Speaking on BBC Test Match Special, Cook said, “I think it’s a whole thing in the team at the minute, the lack of hundreds and whether that’s down to the conditions they’re facing and the fact that the ball is staying hard throughout the 80 overs, the majority of the time. I think it’s just a little thing in that dressing room when you get into 50s because it’s like a habit to all of them, so it gets broken by two people scoring hundreds and everyone relaxes, but the minute until someone does it, it is a concern.”
Cook then brings up Dan Lawrence, who was clearly irritated after being out for 65 in the first inning. In an attempt to secure a berth in the team, the English hitter is participating in his first Test series since 2024. England scored 453 runs in the first innings thanks to five individuals, none of whom scored a century. No player from either team has yet to score a century in the Test series. Cook’s century can help the batsmen cement their place in the squad because England regularly drops and replaces players from one series to the next.
He added, “You saw the frustration for him [Lawrence], a big shout of no when he got out because he just knew there’s an opportunity, so if you’ve got hundreds, you know you’re on the plane [to South Africa]. I still think he will be, but if you guaranteed hundreds, you guaranteed selection. I just think a lot of those players are just people like Cox and him who are on the verge of cementing your place. You only really cement it with big, big hundreds and so he’ll [Lawrence] go to bed tonight, yes, he’s happy to contribute, you’ve always got to say the right things, but as a batter, you’re judged really on hundreds.”
