LORD’S — Winning a Test series against opposition as poor as Pakistan is no cause for wild celebration.
Yet this was still an important step for an England team who had not achieved one for close to two years.
It means Joe Root’s second spell as captain has got off to the perfect start. Yet more important than victory in this second Test is that England seem to have stumbled across a winning formula in terms of the balance of their team.
England win the second Test and secure the series victory over Pakistan at Lord's! pic.twitter.com/zgj2XkyXOe
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 30, 2026This was always going to be the big challenge after the shock retirement of Root’s predecessor, Ben Stokes, in June.
The lack of a quality all-rounder is a problem that affects so many teams. But the solution England have found – bolstering the batting, eschewing a frontline spinner and picking a four-pronged seam attack – is one that can serve them well heading into next summer’s era-defining home Ashes series.
Bigger challenges ahead
There will be far greater challenges for England than Pakistan – starting with South Africa, the current world Test champions, this coming winter.
But Root’s team can only beat what is in front of them and their two performances have been impressive, not perfect. But there has been enough, particularly in the bowling department, to suggest this England can develop into a serious team.
Nobody knows what shape an ageing Australia will be in when they arrive on these shores next summer. Potentially bruising series against South Africa, New Zealand and India await them.
Yet England cannot rely on Aussie dysfunction to hand them the urn. It will have to be earned the hard way.
Last winter’s Ashes debacle Down Under taught us that.
Brains, not bravado
Joe Root is already stamping his authority on the rest of his teammates (Photo: Getty)Yet with confidence high after winning a series for the first time since December 2024, this team is in a far better place than they were two months ago following Stokes’ departure and Brendon McCullum’s sacking.
Chaos has been replaced by hope. Doubts replaced by dreams. And under the steady guiding hands of Root and new coach Stephen Fleming, there is an opportunity to achieve something special.
Fleming will not officially start his job until the first week of December, when England travel to Durban for a warm-up match ahead of the first Test against South Africa in Johannesburg.
He has, though, been in constant contact with Root during this series and the way this team is operating has Fleming’s fingerprints as well those of his captain’s on it.
Not naming the starting XI 24 hours before each Test, as became the norm during the alpha era of Bazball, is a subtle but significant one. Brains, not bravado guide this new England.
Scrapping the midnight curfew, despite the recent Brydon Carse controversy, was also a grown-up decision rooted in common sense.
The perfect balance
Picking Jordan Cox and Dan Lawrence for this series, for whom national selector Marcus North must also be credited, was a welcome nod to the county game.
Both batters, who scored gutsy half-centuries in this Test, have repaid the faith shown in them and are likely to remain come the winter.
That is because the balance of this team right now works.
Unless you have got a world-class spinner – and England haven’t – there is no point picking one for the sake of it.
Variety can come in other forms and the contrasting skillsets of Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson look capable of troubling far better teams than Pakistan.
One hell of an upgrade
Ollie Robinson was superb yet again after taking 8-35 at Lord’s (Photo: Getty)Robinson’s numbers since coming back into the team at the start of the summer – 23 wickets at 8.34 – are like something from the 19th century, even more his 8 for 35 in this match.
He has led this attack superbly and alongside the pace of Archer, who touched 95 miles per hour during this Test, England have a relentless new-ball partnership.
It is certainly an upgrade on the one that ended the Ashes in Carse and Matthew Potts.
Tongue improves with every game and his pace, bounce and hunger for wickets are commodities any team would crave.
Atkinson has had a quiet series in terms of wickets, but he has played his part in a bowling unit that has not given this fragile Pakistan batting line-up any respite.
If it ain’t broke…
Breaking up this quartet to include a spinner, something that could only be done if England pick an all-rounder such as Sam Curran to bat in Lawrence’s place, would not make sense.
Before it was known that Curran required groin surgery, North had spoken about him being central to this team’s future.
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Chris Stocks: Welcome to the dystopian future of Test cricket Vernon Philander: I taught Ollie Robinson to bowl slower – England are so wrong about paceHowever, this attack should be the one to take on Australia next summer.
The bowling cannot always cover England’s lack of hundreds with the bat as it has in this series.
Yet this should be taken for what it is – a ruthless, accomplished performance that offers a blueprint for the future.
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