England vs Pakistan Edgbaston Test 2026: Date & Guide

The england vs pakistan edgbaston test 2026 is the third and final match of the Rothesay series, scheduled for Wednesday 9 to Sunday 13 September at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham, starting at 11:00 BST on each day. It is the last men's Test of the English season and the first time England and Pakistan have met in a Test at the ground in a decade.

A September Test in the Midlands is its own kind of event: fewer overs lost to heat, more to light, a decider that may already be decided, and a crowd in the Hollies Stand that has never let any of that dampen the afternoon.

Match details

Detail
Fixture	England v Pakistan, 3rd Rothesay Test
Dates	Wednesday 9 – Sunday 13 September 2026
Ground	Edgbaston Stadium, Edgbaston Road, Birmingham B5
Home county	Warwickshire County Cricket Club
First ball	11:00 BST daily
Ends	Pavilion End and City End
Competition	ICC World Test Championship 2025-27

September daylight is the practical difference from an August Test. Bad light stops play earlier in the evening than it does in midsummer, so the umpires' willingness to keep going under the lights matters more, and any time lost to weather is harder to claw back at the end of a day. Do not assume a full 90 overs on a grey Birmingham afternoon.

The state of the series

By the time the sides reach Birmingham, two Tests have been played — at Headingley from 19 August and at Lord's from 27 August. Whether this is a decider, a dead rubber or a chance to square things depends on what happened in Leeds and London, and the nine-day gap before this match is unusually generous by the standards of a home summer, giving both squads a proper rest and the selectors room to change their minds.

England named a squad for the first two Tests only, which means the party for Edgbaston is a separate announcement made after the Lord's match. Joe Root leads the side, having taken the captaincy for a second time following Ben Stokes' retirement from international cricket during the New Zealand series in June. Pakistan tour under Babar Azam, reappointed as Test captain ahead of this trip, with a squad that includes four uncapped players and the previous captain, Shan Masood.

Both teams have spent the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle in the lower half of the table, so the percentage points from a September win carry real weight. The complete fixture list and both squads are on our England vs Pakistan series schedule page, and the earlier matches are covered in the Headingley guide and the Lord's guide.

Edgbaston as a cricket ground

Edgbaston is the largest of the three venues on this tour, holding somewhere around 25,000 for an international, and it is the most conspicuously partisan Test ground in England. That reputation is not marketing. Birmingham crowds arrive early, stay late and sing at a volume that visiting captains have described, with varying degrees of diplomacy, as the loudest in world cricket.

The ground was redeveloped in stages through the 2010s and the pavilion end now carries a modern pavilion and media block rather than the old structure. Pitches here have generally offered pace and carry early with reverse swing available later, and Edgbaston has staged some of the most famous finishes in English cricket, including the 2005 Ashes Test decided by two runs. The context for that fixture, and for why every English summer eventually gets measured against it, is in our Ashes archive.

Warwickshire's role in producing England cricketers, and the structure that sits beneath the Test side, is set out in our County Championship explainer and the wider English domestic structure guide.

The Hollies Stand and the rest

• Eric Hollies Stand. The large stand on the eastern side, named for the Warwickshire leg-spinner who bowled Don Bradman for a duck in his final Test innings. It is where the noise, the fancy dress and the singing live. Loud, communal, and not the place to take someone who wants to study the field settings.
• Raglan Stand. Along one side, straightforward seating with a good square view.
• R.E.S. Wyatt Stand. Traditional seating on the south side, popular with members.
• Priory Stand. Toward the pavilion side of the ground.
• Pavilion. Members' areas, hospitality suites and the players' facilities, at the Pavilion End.

The Hollies is a genuine decision rather than a default. Families and anyone wanting a quieter day should look at the stands on the opposite side of the ground; Warwickshire designate family and alcohol-free areas for internationals, and the ticketing map shows where they are. Seats behind the sightscreens at either end are restricted and flagged as such.

Travel to Edgbaston

The ground sits roughly two miles south of Birmingham city centre, close to Cannon Hill Park, and unlike some Test venues it is genuinely walkable from town.

Route	Detail
Rail	Birmingham New Street is the main terminus and the ground is a 30-40 minute walk or a short bus or taxi ride away. Moor Street and Snow Hill are alternatives from other lines.
Bus	Frequent services run south from the city centre along the Bristol Road and Pershore Road corridors, stopping within a short walk of Edgbaston Road.
Walk	Around 35 minutes from New Street, most of it through or beside Cannon Hill Park, which is the pleasant route rather than the fast one.
Park and ride	Warwickshire operate designated match-day parking arrangements at nearby sites for major matches; these must usually be booked in advance and sell out.
Local streets	Residents' permit restrictions apply widely around the ground on international days and are enforced.

The county publishes gate opening times for each day of an international; at English Test grounds this is typically an hour and a half to two hours before the first ball. Take the published figure rather than the typical one.

Buying tickets

Warwickshire County Cricket Club sells tickets for internationals at Edgbaston through its own platform, and that is the route to use. Buying elsewhere risks paying well above face value for a ticket the ground may not recognise.

How the sale unfolds:

Autumn ballot. The ECB ran its ballot for the 2026 summer from 2 September 2025, with early access for members of the We Are England Cricket Supporters scheme before the general ballot opened.

Member priority. Warwickshire members get their own window before public sale.

General sale. Remaining stock goes on open sale through Edgbaston's ticketing site, day by day rather than as a whole-match package.

Resale and returns. Official resale carries returned tickets throughout, and for a match on days four and five this is often where availability appears.

Standard restrictions apply: a cap on how many tickets one person may buy, and rules on adults accompanying under-16s. Prices are set per stand and per day and change between seasons, so confirm the current bands with Edgbaston before budgeting — figures quoted on third-party sites are frequently out of date or inflated. Hospitality and box packages are a separate product sold by the club.

If the match ends inside four days, refund arrangements for unused day tickets follow the ground's published policy. In September, with the series possibly settled and the weather unreliable, that policy is worth reading before you buy the later days.

Following it on TV, radio and online

Sky Sports Cricket holds live UK rights to England's home Tests and will carry every ball, with streaming through Sky Go for subscribers and NOW for anyone buying a day or month pass instead. BBC television shows a highlights package rather than live play, and Test Match Special provides continuous radio commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds.

Listings and highlight times move around, particularly for a match that may finish early, so check on the day. Our guide to watching cricket in the UK covers how the arrangement works across all formats.

Birmingham around the Test

Edgbaston Road and the Pershore Road have pubs that fill from mid-morning on an international day, and Cannon Hill Park next door is the standard rain-delay option — it has a lake, a café and enough space to absorb a few thousand displaced cricket watchers. The Birmingham Botanical Gardens are a short ride away in the other direction.

The city centre has the hotel capacity that Leeds and St John's Wood do not, and September rates are usually softer than August, which makes the final Test of the summer the easiest of the three to plan a trip around. Trains from New Street run late enough to get most of the country home after a full day's play, though a Sunday finish thins the timetable.

Where Edgbaston sits relative to the other Test grounds in the country is set out in our English cricket grounds guide, and the ground's Test-match reputation for seam bowling belongs to a longer tradition described in our England fast bowling piece.

What to take with you

A Test at Edgbaston in September is a five-session gamble on the weather, and the people who enjoy it most are the ones who packed for both outcomes. Layers beat a single warm coat, because the difference between 11:00 in the shade and 15:00 in the sun is substantial and the difference between 15:00 and 18:00 is substantial again in the other direction. A waterproof is more useful than an umbrella, which you will be asked to put down the moment anyone behind you notices it.

Beyond that: a radio or phone with headphones for the commentary, because following Test Match Special while watching the same over in front of you is the standard English cricket-watching experience; sun cream, which people reliably forget in September and regret by tea; and cash or card for the bars, which do not take one of those. Check the ground regulations for what you may bring through the gate — the limits on bottles, cans and bag size are published each season and are applied at the search point, not negotiated.

Frequently asked questions

When is the England v Pakistan Test at Edgbaston in 2026?

Wednesday 9 September to Sunday 13 September 2026, with play scheduled to start at 11:00 BST on each day. It is the third and final Test of the series.

How far is Edgbaston from Birmingham New Street?

About two miles. It is a walk of roughly 35 minutes, much of it through Cannon Hill Park, or a short bus or taxi journey from the city centre.

Where should I sit at Edgbaston for a quiet day?

Away from the Eric Hollies Stand. The Raglan, Wyatt and Priory areas are calmer, and Warwickshire designate family and alcohol-free sections for internationals — check the seating map before booking.

Can I still buy tickets for the third Test?

Availability varies by day, and days four and five hold stock longest. Buy through Edgbaston's own ticketing site or its official resale, and confirm current prices with Warwickshire County Cricket Club directly.

Will the match be shown live on free TV in the UK?

No. Live coverage is on Sky Sports Cricket, with streaming via Sky Go and NOW. The BBC provides highlights on television and live ball-by-ball commentary on Test Match Special.

Does a September Test finish earlier in the day?

The scheduled hours are the same, but the light goes sooner than in midsummer, so evening sessions are more likely to be curtailed. Grounds with floodlights can extend play in some circumstances, at the umpires' discretion.

Last Test of the summer

Confirm your gate time, your stand and the ground regulations with Warwickshire before travelling to the england vs pakistan edgbaston test 2026, and pack for a Birmingham September rather than the one on the forecast app three days out.

When the players leave the field for the last time, the English international season moves to white-ball cricket against Sri Lanka and the counties finish their own campaigns. The rest of that calendar is covered across our England cricket section and the cricket in England guides, with the records these five days might disturb collected in our England records page and the players chasing them ranked, argumentatively, in England's greatest Test players.