Joe Root led from the front as England survived a major wobble to beat Pakistan by eight wickets in the third Test at Edgbaston on Saturday, sealing a 3-0 series whitewash.
The home team, chasing just 130 to win, were in deep trouble when openers Ben Duckett and Emilio Gay were dismissed in the first over, bowled by Mohammad Abbas.
Root, England’s record runscorer, edged his first ball, bowled by Razaullah, through the slips for four in a nervy start but settled and scored quickly to take the sting out of the situation.
The captain was given a huge reprieve when he chopped onto the stumps off Mohammad Ali, only for the umpire to signal a no ball, leaving the bowler distraught.
Root, with Jordan Cox at the other end, had another let-off when he edged an Abbas delivery between first and second slip, with neither fielder moving.
But he reached his half-century off 57 balls with a cut for four and Cox reached the landmark shortly afterwards.
England reached their target in the 25th over, with Root unbeaten on 62 and Cox 59 not out.
Root, in his second spell as England skipper after the departure of Ben Stokes, admitted his team were not the finished article but said he was delighted with their series win.
“The amount of uncertainty, noise and I guess chaos there was coming into the series, the way the guys have dealt with that — being so clinical with what we’ve had in front of us — and be stood here with a 3-0 win is really pleasing,” he told Sky Sports.
“It sets us up nicely looking ahead to the start of a new era with (new head coach) Stephen Fleming coming in.”
Pakistan woes
England celebrated their first Test series win since 2024 while Pakistan have now lost 16 of their past 21 games and are rooted at the bottom of the World Test Championship table.
Root’s men had appeared set for a quickfire win inside three days on Friday before debutant fast bowler Razaullah launched an audacious assault with the bat, clubbing nine sixes as he raced to 81 off 63 balls.
The 21-year-old number nine, who also took four wickets in England’s first innings, put on 121 for the ninth wicket with fellow paceman Abbas (42) as England floundered.
“We had a little bit of pushback yesterday which, in a strange way, was quite a good thing for the group,” said Root.
“Fair play to Razaullah, he made things difficult for us. He played some wonderful shots and made it very difficult to set fields to. He struck the ball nicely — I don’t know how he didn’t pull a muscle, swinging the bat that hard.”
Razaullah’s heroics have changed the mood music but they came too little, too late for Pakistan, who have endured a miserable series, losing the first Test by an innings and 103 runs and the second by 194 runs.
The tourists sent seven players home after their crushing defeat in the second Test at Lord’s and brought in seven replacements, with Razaullah among them.
They also sacked head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and assistant Umar Gul as their tour plunged into chaos.
Pakistan made four changes to their side for the third Test in Birmingham and they put up a fight despite being dismissed for a paltry 133 in their first innings.
Captain Babar Azam admitted his team would have to take stock after a one-sided series.
“Before we came here we had to think about different things and to decide our team,” he said.
“We had a couple of changes after losing two matches. Playing in England is very difficult. We were trying to do our best in the third match.
“We need to sit down and look hard at our mistakes, decide our playing XI.”
The 3-0 win is a huge tonic for England, who were in turmoil just weeks ago following a series loss to New Zealand and the exits of head coach Brendon McCullum and Stokes.
But tougher challenges lie ahead, starting with a Test series in South Africa in December and January, while a home Ashes looms next year.
Source: Khaleej Times