'Heavyweight boxer punch an empty bin': Fans react as Pakistan batting crumble in 1st session of Day 1 at Edgbaston
'Heavyweight boxer punch an empty bin': Fans react as Pakistan batting crumble in 1st session of Day 1 at Edgbaston originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.KEY TAKEAWAYS:Pakistan slumped to 133 for 7 at lunch on Day 1 of the third Test at Edgbaston before getting all out for 133 against England.Josh Tongue took four wickets, with Ollie Robinson and Jofra Archer claiming three apiece.Fans and journalists reacted with a mix of disbelief and dark humour at the collapse.AdvertisementPakistan once again failed to reach the 200-run mark in their tourPakistan's tour of England has produced one collapse after another, but the opening session at Edgbaston managed to unsettle even hardened observers of this series. On a flat pitch offering little obvious assistance, the tourists were reduced to shreds before the players had even reached lunch.Josh Tongue led the damage with three wickets, while Ollie Robinson and Jofra Archer chipped in with two apiece as Pakistan limped to 100 for 7 off the final ball before the interval.It capped a morning in which the batting lineup offered barely any resistance against an England attack that has now dominated the entire series. The afternoon session provided no respite as England quickly dismissed Pakistan for 133 as all three bowlers added one more wicket to their tally.AdvertisementThe response online arrived almost as quickly as the wickets fell, with fans and journalists reaching for increasingly vivid ways to describe what they were watching.MORE: Helpless Ramiz Raja reacts to the turmoil in current Pakistan cricket teamFans react to Pakistan's collapse in the first session at EdgbastonCricket journalist Ben Jones produced the line of the morning, framing the mismatch in brutally physical terms. "Utterly depressing first hour at Edgbaston. Like watching a decent heavyweight boxer punch an empty bin," Jones wrote.One fan was far less measured in their assessment, calling for outright accountability from the subcontinent giants. "Absolute disgraceful performance by Pakistan at Edgbaston this morning. Go home. Back to the drawing board," they wrote.Another user offered a drier, statistical summary of the carnage, noting that Pakistan had at least reached three figures by the interval.Advertisement"Pakistan reach three figures on the last ball before lunch, but it's been a miserable start for the visitors at Edgbaston. Three wickets for Tongue, two each for Robinson and Archer, Pakistan 100/7," they wrote.One supporter reflected on the wider gloom surrounding the occasion, from the sparse crowd to the one-sided cricket on show. "Last test of the summer, and it's all a bit tragic, really, a half-full Edgbaston at best and a Pakistan team that can't bat to save their lives," they wrote.ESPNcricinfo's Daniel Brettig put it most simply of all, admitting the contest had lost his attention entirely. "Started watching the Edgbaston Test but found it too one-sided to be interesting," he wrote.For a side that was supposed to justify the locker room move of sending half their players home mid-series, Pakistan has massively failed to make a mark.AdvertisementMORE: 'Pakistan collapsing on a flat pitch at Edgbaston': Nasser Hussain's brutal jibe live on TVWhy the reactions capture something beyond one bad sessionThe empty bin line works because it identifies something the raw scoreline cannot: that this was not a case of a good side being edged out by fine margins but of an England attack facing no meaningful resistance at all.Punching an object that cannot punch back is not a contest, and neither, on this evidence, is this series. What makes the exhaustion in these reactions notable is the context around them.Pakistan arrived at Edgbaston having sacked their head coach, sent home seven players and reshuffled the squad specifically to prevent this pattern.AdvertisementInstead, it only reproduced the same result inside the first hour on a pitch offering nothing like the seam of Headingley or Lord's. When even the neutral observers start switching off, the problem has stopped being about tactics or conditions and become something the team itself will have to answer for.
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