England vs Pakistan LIVE Updates, 3rd Test: After the drama of sacking seven players and two members of the coaching staff, the Pakistan cricket team will make a long-anticipated return to action in the third Test against England, starting from Wednesday in Birmingham. England, on the other hand, have begun the Stephen Fleming – Joe Root era on a positive note, and will hope to lay the foundation for a series sweep. ( Live Scorecard ) Having already lost the series 2-0, Pakistan are playing for pride, and are set to pick a number of new faces in their playing XI.
England vs Pakistan 3rd Test LIVE Score Updates: Pakistan enter the third Test under immense scrutiny after sacking seven players and two coaches ahead of the game.
The overhaul has extended to the coaching staff as well, with Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul released from their roles. Expected combinations – With the series already wrapped up, England could well look to rest a few of their cross-format players for this final Test, opening the door for the likes of Sonny Baker and Sam Cook to come back into the fold. As for Pakistan, a solitary win from six Tests this year tells only part of the story. It’s the sheer scale of their defeats that paints the truer, far grimmer picture. But more than England, it’s Pakistan who find themselves under the microscope here, all eyes on what changes they make and how they respond after being so relentlessly put under the pump. Stay tuned for toss and team updates. Unending downward spiral – Throw in as many adjectives as you like, Pakistan’s troubles simply refuse to relent. A sweeping shakeup has unfolded between the second and third Tests, and honestly, nothing about it feels surprising anymore. First up, wholesale changes have hit the squad, with an unceremonious axe falling on as many as seven players, among them a couple of high-profile names in Rizwan and Salman Agha, both former captains of the side. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and his assistant have also been shown the door, with Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke stepping in to oversee the Edgbaston finale, while an internal inquiry into discipline and conduct, has only deepened the sense of a camp in complete disarray. What will that do to their confidence? And with as many as three or four debuts on the cards, can this new-look Pakistan side pose a stern challenge to the hosts? Only time will tell. Throw in a healthy dose of off-field controversy, and it’s been anything but a quiet summer. Still, as they wrap up their Test calendar for the year with this match, there’s plenty for England to feel good about. The quality of the opposition will always spark debate in certain corners, sure, but when a team is dominating the way England have been, that noise barely matters. Final destination – Seven days. A single week. That’s all it took for England to hand Pakistan one of their most miserable Test series defeats in recent memory. Given how this calendar year has gone for the tourists, though, every series seems to find a new floor to fall through. England have been ruthless in every department, unrelenting, refusing to give even a sliver of daylight. That’s simply what a side in full flow looks like. With a series whitewash well within touching distance, England will walk out brimming with belief. But confidence and overconfidence live awfully close to each other, and they will want to tread that line with care. With that, welcome to the third and final Test at Edgbaston. A dead rubber? Think again – We are down to the last Test of the English summer, and there have been plenty of storylines along the way. From Ben Stokes’ retirement and Brendon McCullum stepping down as Test coach, to Stephen Fleming’s appointment as the replacement (yet to take charge) and Joe Root being reinstated as Test skipper, it has been quite the summer. And the latest chapter has come with Pakistan, true to their unpredictable nature, undergoing a major overhaul. The series may already be done and dusted, with England holding an unassailable lead, but who knows what’s in store at Edgbaston in Birmingham? Set for the finale – All stable at the England end, which, given the off-field incidents involving different players this summer, is an achievement in itself. Brydon Carse remains out following the incident, while Matthew Fisher misses out for this Test. Batting depth on show – Interestingly, for all the dominance England have shown in this series, not a single English batter has scored a century yet. The likes of Harry Brook, Jordan Cox and Dan Lawrence have been among the runs, while the focus will also be on Joe Root and whether he can find a solution to his LBW troubles, which have become a recurring pattern. Salman Agha, the stand-in skipper in the first Test in the absence of Babar Azam, was dropped for the second and will not even be on the bench in Birmingham. Mike Hesson, the white-ball coach, has been parachuted in as interim coach for this Test. If ever there was a time for Babar Azam to lead from the front, this is it. The other senior batter, Shan Masood, has all his County experience behind him but hasn’t been able to rise to the occasion yet, and he will be keen to change that. Saud Shakeel came ever so close to getting his name etched on the Lord’s Honours Board and will take confidence from that, while Abdullah Shafique is the only other batter in this setup to have registered a fifty-plus score. He can also don the gloves, as can Ghazi Ghori, who has been with the squad as the reserve wicketkeeper from the outset. Abbas sets the standard – Mohammad Abbas often goes under the radar when the discussion turns to the top Test bowlers around the globe, but he got his just reward at Lord’s, etching his name onto the Honours Board. The likes of Mohammad Ali and Khurram Shahzad have not been able to replicate Abbas’ effectiveness so far and will need to find a way to make more of an impact in Birmingham. Pakistan’s pace ranks have been replenished with the additions of Razaullah, Mohammad Imran Jnr and Mohammad Imran. Of the three, Imran brings more than a decade of first-class experience, while the other two have nowhere close to the same level of experience as their veteran counterpart. What to expect? There could be something in it for the bowlers early on the opening day, but conditions should settle down as the game progresses. The heat is not expected to be much of a factor either, and there is no major threat of rain on any of the days. But after everything that has panned out in this series, wouldn’t it be the most Pakistan thing ever if they were to finally break that duck?
A lukewarm summer – 2026 has been a bit of a mixed bag for English Test cricket. It began with eyebrows raised all around after a 2-1 series defeat to New Zealand, followed by Stokes calling time on his Test career and Joe Root stepping back into the captaincy for a second stint. 7 of his last 9 dismissals have come via LBW, and with the keeper coming up to the stumps, opposition sides have found a way to trouble him. Back with a bang – Making a return to the Test side after more than two years in the wilderness, Ollie Robinson has made a roaring comeback, picking up 23 wickets in just three games since his return and making this England attack all the more potent. 7 players sent home – Yes, you read that right. An unprecedented knee-jerk reaction to losing the first two Tests handsomely has seen Pakistan send 7 players home. Ali Usman, the left-arm finger spinner who took five wickets at Headingley to become the first touring spinner to do so at the venue since 1972, has also been asked to return home. Of the 7 players brought in to link up with the squad, five are uncapped in Test cricket, and four have yet to play international cricket. Batting has to stand up – For a side that has not even reached 200 in any of their four innings so far in the series, with 50.5 overs the maximum they have lasted, Pakistan will have to bat out of their skins. He too will have a big role to play.Saad Baig has been called up ahead of this Test, having amassed 1,000 runs in the 2025 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy at an average of 55.55. Team form (Last 5 Tests, most recent first) – ENG – WWLLW | PAK – LLWLL. Edgbaston challenge – Among the four home venues where England have played more than 50 Tests, they have their best win percentage at Edgbaston. However, they have lost four of their last six Tests here, with their most recent outing ending in a 336-run drubbing by India in 2025. Pakistan, meanwhile, have never won at Edgbaston in 8 previous trips, with 5 losses and 3 draws.
Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue have chipped in with wickets as well, but the same cannot be said for Gus Atkinson, who has just one wicket in two games, although he has bowled better than those numbers suggest.
