England collapsed to defeat on the morning of the third Test against Pakistan, who secured their first Test series win on home soil in almost four years. Here are five takeaways from the game.
England's lack of adaptability a cause for concern
Having dominated the first Test with the bat, England encountered familiar spin failings in the second. The third was almost a carbon copy, except that England couldn't take consolation in losing the toss. When Pakistan lost heavily in the first match, they identified that their game plan wasn't working. They ripped it all up and started again, and reaped the rewards of that new approach. Having fallen short the second time around in Multan, there was nothing tangible that England did differently, in terms of their batting approach, in Rawalpindi. For a team who pride themselves on playing on the front foot, not afraid to challenge conventional norms to get results, they were decidedly boring.
In the first innings, faced with a pitch that turned and bounced low from the first session, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook tried to sweep their way out of trouble - shock. It didn't work - even more shock. As Jamie Smith said - who managed 89 of England's 267 - "when Ben Duckett is saying it's tough to sweep, then it probably is near-on impossible". So why did it take them until Smith to adapt? Smith scored nine off his first 32 balls before attempting, successfully, to put Sajid Khan under pressure, and force Shan Masood into a bowling change. The problem isn't that England aren't very good against spin, that's assumed. The problem is that they failed to adapt in any way to the challenge they were faced with.
One step forwards two steps back?
The 3-0 series-win in Pakistan in 2022 was one of England's finest overseas performances of all time. While they lost in India, they were close to a winning position in several matches and forced one in Hyderabad - better than most touring teams ever manage there, even if New Zealand have now shown that beating them isn't actually impossible. After the first Multan Test, England were the all-conquering record-breakers, showing once again how to produce wins in Asia. But the England on the field in the third Test match bore few marks of this new, exciting, fearless side.
There now has to be serious question over Pope's future. He scored 55 runs from five innings across the series, each failure more predictable than the last. When Pope is on, there are few better, the Hyderabad knock earlier this year, the clearest example, and he's better than many of his teammates at going big when set. He's actually scored three centuries this year alone, but they fade into the background when there's so little of substance in between them. Equally, the Old Trafford 189 has finally fallen into the ether for Zak Crawley, who made scores of 27, 3, 29 and 2 following his 78 in the first innings in Multan. Both Crawley and Pope are known feast or famine players, but the feasts are becoming too scarce to sustain the famine.
Pakistan set out blueprint for home advantage
Pakistan's first home Test series win since 2021 will come with more than a dose of relief. Relief that their cull following the first Test paid off, as did their mad pitch tactics. Perhaps they've hit upon that golden formula to at least come close to more home victories - out-mad their opponents. If mad is what Pakistan cricket does best it makes sense to play to those strengths. Historically, Pakistan's strength has been pace: reverse-swinging nasty fasties. But, in going away from that, they have rediscovered two spin-bowling match-winners, and played to their batters' strengths too. At the start of the series, Pakistan looked an inch from breaking point. Masood stroking six to seal victory illustrates how complete their comeback has been.
A tale of two spin attacks
Pakistan took a leaf out of England's books on recent tours in selecting their new-look spin attack. They picked two players who hadn't played a domestic red ball game in a year before the second Multan Test. Sajid and Noman Ali were so successful that sent down all but 11 of the 134 overs England faced in Rawalpindi, and took 39 of the last 40 England wickets to fall in the series. They knew England's weaknesses and bowled accordingly, with Sajid's fizz and trajectory keeping the stumps in play, and Noman's loopy left-arm spin tempting England's egos, and finding significant purchase. In comparison, when England finally went to all-out spin, they were found lacking in the same conditions. Shoaib Bashir took less than half the wickets in three Tests of either Noman or Sajid in two. Jack Leach was the pick of England's spinners, but its unlikely he'll be selected for England's next tour. The same goes for Rehan Ahmed, who was England's best spinner in Rawalpindi.
England won't go back to the subcontinent for more than two years. When they do, their spinners need to take a step forward.
A chink in Stokes' armour
The ball was tossed up, pitching outside off and turning into the wicket, and fairly innocuous. Noman always turns it into the left-hander, and Stokes was seemingly ready for it, foot forward, bat poised to come down to defend. But it never arrived. The ball instead thudded into Stokes' body with his bat now above his head in a leave. It was plumb, as the small embarrassed shake of the head from Joe Root confirmed when asked by his captain if he should review. It was a terrible leave, putting an end point to one of the worst 24 hours of captaincy of Stokes' tenure. It started when he didn't bring Rehan back on straight away after Lunch on day two. Against the tail, a familiar foe, there were few to no catchers in place with Sajid hitting out, and no seam in sight in the first half of the evening session either. Perhaps it was the frustration of losing a 1-0 advantage having been on the sidelines for a month, but this wasn't the think on your feet, make something happen captain from Multan.
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