Ollie Robinson had waited two months for a Test recall, and about four seconds to justify it. The first delivery of the series at Headingley pinned Azan Awais on the crease, the finger went up, and Robinson became the first bowler to strike with the opening ball of a Test series in England. Three days later, England had won by an innings and 103 runs, Pakistan had been bowled out for 171 and 135, and Joe Root’s second coming as captain had begun in the least English fashion imaginable — without complication.
The temptation is to declare the post-Bazball era a resounding success after 48.1 overs of day one. The more useful question, and the one that will be answered at Lord’s from 27 August, is whether England were genuinely transformed or Pakistan simply awful. The honest answer is: a bit of both.
The Fab Four finally look like an attack
England picked no specialist spinner, trusting overhead conditions and what Root called “a bit of top moisture” in the surface. Shoaib Bashir carried the drinks; Dan Lawrence’s single over of off-spin — a maiden — was the only relief from seam all match.
The quartet repaid it. Robinson took 5-50 and 3-29 and was named player of the match. Josh Tongue matched him with 5-53 and 3-43, the pair sharing all ten first-innings wickets before asking the Headingley ground staff to cut the match ball in half so both could keep a piece of it. Jofra Archer added 3-50 on the final afternoon, Gus Atkinson one.
- Robinson: 8 wickets in the match, on Test return after 7-77 against New Zealand in June
- Tongue: 8 wickets, including a maiden five-for at his captain’s home ground
- Archer: 3-50 in the second innings
- Pakistan’s 135 all out came in 37.3 overs, before tea on day three
What struck Root was not the individual hauls but the shape of the thing. “I don’t think our bowlers understand well that they complement each other in these conditions, and what they’re capable of doing,” he said. “It’s really nice for them to see that.” For a decade England’s seam plans ran through James Anderson and Stuart Broad; Root admitted it “was quite easy on occasion to leave Jimmy and Stuart to it”. This time the captain had to set the tone himself, and the attack held its discipline across two innings rather than one burst.
Fleming on the end of the phone
England’s new head coach was not at Headingley. Stephen Fleming, appointed in July after Brendon McCullum departed in the wake of a 4-1 Ashes defeat, does not formally start until December. Marcus Trescothick is interim coach in the meantime — and yet Fleming’s fingerprints were already on the week.
Root revealed the New Zealander has been in touch every single day. “He’s kept tabs on things. It’s just been great to have him on the end of the phone and I can speak to him as much or as little as I like,” Root said. “It’s great that he’s very invested already in what we’re trying to achieve, and there’s been constant communication with Marcus Trescothick and me.”
That is an unusual arrangement — a five-time IPL-winning coach running a long-distance advisory line into a dressing room he does not yet lead — but it beats the alternative of a four-month vacuum. The risk is a split identity if results turn. For now, the message England said they wanted to deliver and the cricket they played were the same thing. “We delivered on everything we spoke about,” Root said. “That’s the most pleasing thing.”
Improvement, or a tourist side in freefall?
Pakistan made it straightforward. Without Babar Azam, absent with a hand injury, only Abdullah Shafique (61) and Imam-ul-Haq (42) offered resistance on day one. Captain Salman Ali Agha then shelled Harry Brook at second slip on one; Brook made 91 from 93 balls with 13 fours before falling lbw to Ali Usman, whose maiden five-wicket haul (5-92) was the tourists’ one genuine positive. Jordan Cox made 73 at number three, Root 66, Lawrence 51 — a first England total of 409 built by four men who all got in and only one of whom got out for fewer than fifty.
Context matters. This was England’s third win in 11 Tests. Root’s first captaincy stint ended in 2022 with one victory in 17. Nobody at Headingley was claiming a dynasty. But an innings win inside three days, with a bowling group averaging under 30 between them and a middle order that scored at pace without imploding, is the strongest possible start to a rebuild that had to begin somewhere.
Babar is expected back at Lord’s. If England repeat this, the question answers itself.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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