HEADINGLEY – It is just over two months since director of cricket Rob Key was asked whether England’s Test team were a “national embarrassment” amid the fallout from Ben Stokes’ late-night trip to Chelsea’s Rex Rooms.
So, even accounting for how bad Pakistan were in this first Test – maybe even a national embarrassment – a statement win such as this provided the perfect start to Joe Root’s second spell as captain following months of turmoil and upheaval on and off the field.
As such the power of this three-day walkover from a psychological perspective cannot be underestimated.
We might not yet be able to fully draw a line over a period of tumult that saw the Bazball project go up in flames after, first, Stokes, the captain, dramatically quit international cricket mid-Test at Trent Bridge in June and Brendon McCullum, the coach, was sacked two weeks later.
This was a pleasing start for Joe Root (Photo: Reuters)This, though, is a start and a promising one, too, ahead of a 10-month period that sees England travel to South Africa, Bangladesh and Australia this coming winter and, of course, take on the Aussies once again in next summer’s Ashes.
Root’s captaincy – both his first disappointing spell from 2017 to 2022 and this latest one that started this week – will ultimately be judged on the Ashes.
The same applies to Stephen Fleming, England’s new coach who remains in New Zealand but who chatted to Root after every day of this Test ahead of officially taking charge at the start of the winter.
England have not won a series against Australia since 2015. Failure next summer really isn’t an option.
Yet with a bowling attack as potent as this, maybe the long wait will finally end next summer to give Root’s legacy as a leader the one victory that will leave an indelible mark on his record.
Ollie Robinson was the standout here at Headingley, taking eight wickets overall, as he was against New Zealand at Lord’s in June. The 32-year-old seamer has taken 15 wickets across both contests and was named man-of-the-match in each. They are England’s only two wins this summer.
Therefore it remains imperative he stays fit well beyond the final two Tests of this series at Lord’s and Edgbaston.
Ollie Robinson was England’s standout at Headingley (Photo: Getty)Josh Tongue was another who picked up eight wickets, with his burst of three for seven midway through this third and final day ripping the heart out of Pakistan’s batting line-up.
Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson were also much improved on the final day, the former taking three wickets, and the latter just one. When all four of these bowlers get it right, they will be a scary prospect.
As Root remarked afterwards: “It’s very exciting because I still think they don’t know how good they are yet and what they’re capable of.”
Yet England’s batting line-up, which at one stage on day two threatened to implode in this match as they have so often in the recent past, was not perfect.
Emilio Gay doesn’t convince as an opener, with his inability to judge balls outside off-stump appearing more and more like an insurmountable hurdle even at this early stage of his Test career.
Jordan Cox, as well as he played at No 3 in only his second Test, Root, Harry Brook and Dan Lawrence were all guilty of giving their wickets away having posted half-centuries.
England were lucky Pakistan were so feeble because against the very best in the world – Australia, India and South Africa – they will need big hundreds on a regular basis to compete.
This was a start. They can finish the series as a contest next week at Lord’s. That again will be a significant step given they have failed to win one since triumphing 2-1 in New Zealand back in December 2024.
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Yet it really will only be a start. Nothing less than a 3-0 whitewash will do given the paucity of their opponents.
Pakistan have lost nine of their past 10 overseas Tests and were weakened here by the absence of injured captain Babar Azam. They were the perfect opponents for England at the perfect time. But tougher challenges will come, as Root admitted afterwards.
Perhaps the ruthless nature in which they were dispatched though – Pakistan bowled out twice in just 87 overs – is a sign that this really can be a new era for England. One shorn of the chaos of the past few months and the lingering disappointment of last winter’s Ashes debacle in Australia.
We can live in hope. It’s up to Root and his players to convert that into something more tangible over the coming weeks and months.
England need to turn their fans from doubters to believers by the start of next summer’s Ashes. Even then, the job will only be half done.
This was promising. But as Root knows, there is still much more to do.
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