Woakes backs England to push on

"It might depend on the weather a bit, but we're obviously in a good position now," Woakes said after the third day's play at Edgbaston.

Chris Woakes reckons England can triumph in Edgbaston.

Chris Woakes hopes England can push for victory against Pakistan after taking a narrow lead on day three of the third Test at Edgbaston.

Pakistan was all out for 400 on Friday, England making 120 without loss in reply to hold a 17-run advantage at stumps in Birmingham.

Skipper Alastair Cook and fellow opener Alex Hales will resume on 64 and 50 respectively, with Woakes hopeful his team can make steady progress on Saturday.

"It might depend on the weather a bit, but we're obviously in a good position now," he said.

"If the openers can score some runs early tomorrow and get us in a good position then maybe we can have a crack at them."

England, having been bowled out for an underwhelming 297 in its first innings, struggled initially with the ball, Azhar Ali (139) and Sami Aslam (82) leading the way for Pakistan.

But Woakes believes the hosts hit back effectively on Friday.

"We've had a really good day," he said, "The way we came out this morning ... we felt we deserved more yesterday so we were fired up and we got our rewards.

"The pitches are generally good here, maybe the heavy roller killed it a bit yesterday when they started batting, but they played well too. Fingers crossed it deteriorates a bit with us bowling last."