England needed 130 to complete the first home Test series whitewash of Pakistan in their history. Inside one over they had lost both openers, Mohammad Abbas bowling Ben Duckett and Emilio Gay, and Joe Root had edged his first ball through the slips for four. Twenty-four overs later it was finished: Root 62 not out, Jordan Cox 59 not out, an eight-wicket win at Edgbaston, a 3-0 series sweep.
The scoreline flattered nobody. Pakistan were rolled for 133 on the opening day, then played their best cricket of the tour — 449 second time round, built on Shan Masood’s 95, Babar Azam’s 76 and 81 from a debutant batting at nine — to force England to bat again at all. These are the ratings from a match that settled a series and unsettled a selection meeting.
Batting: the innings Cox needed to play
England’s first innings of 453 was a collective effort rather than a monument — five men past fifty, nobody past 75 — and the chase asked a harder question than the target suggested.
- Ben Duckett — 4/10. Bowled by Abbas in the opening over of the chase and absent from a first-innings list that read Brook 75, Smith 69, Lawrence 65, Gay 60, Robinson 50. A summer of starts.
- Emilio Gay — 5/10. His 60 was a Test-best and the most assured he has looked at this level; following it by falling in the first over of a 130 chase is the pattern in miniature. Five Tests in, he averages 23.44.
- Dan Lawrence — 9/10. Player of the match, and the most complete argument any England batter made all series: 65 in the first innings and 2-17 with his off-spin as Pakistan’s second innings finally ended. Recalled by Root for this series, he made 51 on his return at Headingley.
- Joe Root — 8/10. Sixty-two not out, and the calm that came with it: the edge off his first ball, then a controlled acceleration that took the game away from Pakistan before nerves could set in. This is his first series win as captain since Sri Lanka in early 2021, in a summer where he passed Sachin Tendulkar’s record for Test fifties.
- Harry Brook — 7/10. Top-scored with 75 and did it at the tempo England were built for, but a fourth consecutive score in the 70s that did not become a hundred.
- Jordan Cox — 8/10. His most mature innings of the year. Walking in at 0-2 chasing on a pitch that had produced a 133 all out, he refused to be rushed and finished 59 not out. Successive fifties at Leeds and Lord’s had already lifted him to 38.20 from three Tests; this one showed he can defend as well as score.
- Jamie Smith — 7/10. Sixty-nine, and clean work behind the stumps through 130 overs of Pakistan’s second innings.
Bowling: Robinson’s numbers stopped making sense
Pakistan’s 449 was the only innings in three Tests where England’s attack looked mortal, and even then it took a 121-run ninth-wicket stand to get them there.
- Ollie Robinson — 9/10. Three for 15 and 2-54 here, and 21 wickets at 8.76 with an economy rate of 2.04 across the series. He was named player of the series and Test player of the summer, reached 100 Test wickets, and did it all after two and a half years out of international cricket. He also made 50 batting down the order.
- Josh Tongue — 8/10. Four for 42 on day one, the spell that turned the Test before it began.
- Jofra Archer — 7/10. Three for 25 in the first innings, fast and full, and got through his overs.
- Gus Atkinson — 5/10. Three second-innings wickets, but at a cost of 109 as Razaullah struck nine sixes. Lengths that worked in August did not on day three.
Food for thought before South Africa
The context matters. Pakistan sent seven players home after Lord’s and replaced them wholesale; head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and assistant Umar Gul were sacked mid-tour. England beat a side in freefall, and rarely had to bowl at a team that passed 200 until the final Test. A 3-0 sweep against that opposition proves less than the numbers imply.
What it does deliver is a genuine problem. With Jacob Bethell injured, Lawrence, Cox and Gay are three men for what is realistically two places, and Lawrence’s part-time spin makes him the most useful of them in the balance of a five-man attack. Cox has the better average; Gay has the fewest answers. Duckett’s place is safe on reputation, not on this summer’s evidence.
England tour South Africa for three Tests in December, and Robinson — 21 wickets ago an afterthought — has already been named in the squad. Then comes the home Ashes in June 2027. This side has spent four years under director of cricket Rob Key looking convincing between the series that matter. Edgbaston was another win in the gap. The selection call made this winter will say more about it than the scoreline did.
**Sources:** [Cricinfo match report](https://www.cricinfo.com/series/pakistan-tour-in-england-2026-1496563/england-vs-pakistan-3rd-test-1496584/match-report) · [Gulf News](https://gulfnews.com/sport/cricket/england-seal-3-0-series-win-over-pakistan-at-edgbaston-1.500672257) · [SportsTiger — Robinson series figures](https://www.sportstiger.com/cricket/ollie-robinson-dominates-pakistan-series-with-21-wickets-at-an-incredible-8-76-average/) · [News24 — Robinson’s 100th Test wicket](https://news24online.com/sports/ollie-robinson-100-test-wickets-record-best-average-england-pakistan/921886) · [Gulf News — Robinson in South Africa squad](https://gulfnews.com/sport/cricket/icc/robinson-returns-to-england-test-squad-for-south-africa-series-1.89677557)
Word count: 754. Ratings are editorial judgement; every score, figure and result above is verified against the sources listed.
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.
802 articles published
