Hales doesn't seem to have hit a four for what feels like ages. Previously he was scoring for fun and fortune. Is it the best for him to go into a shell? Amir concedes just one from the over.

Another way of writing Ben's tweet would be "I'm pretending to work, while following the cricket." It's okay Ben, I won't tell anyone.

Cook ramps up the pressure on Pakistan with a pull for four off Yasir, who can't quite get his length right. It's a short one and the captain steps back to send it away to the mid-wicket boundary.

Phil Tufnell
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

Great knock. He has clipped along at a good rate in this Test match - he has got on with it. The England skipper is leading from the front.

Not normally I'd use the word fast and Cook in the same sentence, but I guess speed is relative, as a great scientist once probably proved. Pakistan slowly running out of ideas.

Andrew Samson
BBC Test Match Special statistician

That is Alastair Cook's sixth fastest Test fifty - three of which have come in this series.

50 for Cookpublished at 17:47 British Summer Time 5 August 2016

17:47 BST 5 August 2016

Polite, but effective. I've used that phrase before in this series, and do so again as captain Cook pushes Amir's full delivery down to long on for four to get to his half-century. Crowd wake up again to applaud him, though it's quickly back to the murmur levels of two minutes ago.

Image source, Rex Features

More to the point, Arthur, what exactly does bagel hour mean over there? Everybody gets free bagels? You have to talk about bagels for an hour? A bagel-eating contest? You write a story titled "Why I would make a good bagel"?

Yasir gets five balls to tempt Hales into a wild shot, after Cook takes a single, but resolute defence ensues. 

Bagel hour is something we should probably introduce on the cricket desk here. Especially when there's a lull in play or something. Could be cake hour, chocolate hour, Eddie Izzard impressions hour - endless possibilities. Meanwhile, Pakistan not having the best of times as Amir continues to bowl wide. At least they've put a deep point out to reduce the boundary shots to singles.

Image source, Rex Features

A broken toilet is a frightening thought. Hope the journey's not a long one Matthew. Yasir keeps a few fielders around the bat to Cook and Hales - usual MO for him this series really - as he concedes a single. Hales defends the last two balls of the over with a bat straighter than a ruler designed by Nasa.

Image source, Rex Features

Change of bowling for Pakistan with Amir coming on. His first delivery is wide and is cut away by Cook for a double. It prompts an emergency meeting in the middle for Misbah and the council of learned men, plus Amir, and the field is shuffled to a 7-2 off-side one. The Mexican wave begins around Edgbaston. All the best to those with pint glasses in their hands.

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

If Rizwan had been able to keep his composure, Hales would have been miles out.

More frustrations for Misbah, as he watched substitute fielder Mohammad Rizwan make an absolute hash of a throw from mid-on that would have seen Hales run out by a good distance at the non-striker's end. Hales makes full use a few balls later by flicking Yasir over mid-on for four. Apply salt. Watch it burn.

Image source, Getty Images

Ahh yes! Glad to see my suggestions of a strokey-beard meeting were taken on board. Hope Misbah's suggestions were imbibed by the rest as well. Pakistan could be in for a toil tomorrow unless they snap up a couple of wickets before stumps today. Rahat, proving that he's not one for team-talks, promptly bowls wide of off stump to Cook again conceding two, before straying on to the pads for a four to fine leg. A productive break then.

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

There is plenty of chat from the Pakistan team - and not just from Misbah. Younus was giving it a proper wave of the hand.