If any moment summed up England’s spectacular unravelling over the past fortnight in Pakistan, it came as Ben Stokes padded up to his ninth ball on the third morning of the deciding Test, and looked down in horror as it thudded into his back thigh, bang in front of all three stumps.
His bat was still aloft as Noman Ali’s appeal echoed round Rawalpindi. Not bothering with a review, Stokes looked briefly confused, then headed for the pavilion – part of an England collapse that hurried them towards a sobering nine-wicket defeat. It was the shot – or, rather, the non-shot – of a captain who had lost not just a series, but his bearings.
Never before in 147 years of Test cricket have England thrown away a three-match series after winning the first game, yet the manner of their defeat ought to trouble them far more than their unwanted place in history.
In being bowled out for 112, the lowest total of the Bazball era, they showed few signs of remedying England’s age-old frailities against spin. And while this was only their second defeat in nine full series under Brendon McCullum, both have come on the subcontinent. They should be grateful they don’t play another Test in this part of the world until they visit Bangladesh in early 2027.
Yes, Pakistan moved heaven and earth to change the direction of the series after their bowlers were mauled on a flat one at Multan. Yes, their decision to reuse that pitch for the second Test, then employ heaters, fans and rakes to produce a turner at Rawalpindi, were acts of desperation.
England crashed to the worst defeat of the Bazball era after a humbling in Rawalpindi in the final Test
Ben Stokes was a cowed figure across the series as his side threw away a 1-0 series lead
Pakistan moved heaven and earth to create for their spinners and the visitors paid the price
But that’s home advantage for you, and England – who are not averse to greetings Asian guests with greentops – were brushed aside like the dust and grit on the wicket.
After scoring 823 for seven in the first Test, they managed 814 for 40 in the second and third. Across their last four innings, England batted for a total of 206.3 overs, which meant they lost a wicket roughly every five.
Bazball has achieved many things, but in Asia it has merely sped up defeat. This was game was all over in seven sessions – and only 24 hours after England appeared to have control of the game, with Pakistan 187 for seven at lunch on the second day in reply to 267.
Of the 40 wickets that fell after their memorable win in the first Test, 39 went to Noman and Sajid Khan, polar opposites in some respects but united by their ability to make fools of Englishmen.
Noman, a slow left-armer who glides to the crease almost anonymously, picked up 20 at 13. Sajid, the off-spinner with the villainous moustache who bounces in and turns every delivery into a personal slight, managed 19 at 21.
Had leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood not removed Jamie Smith in the first innings here, Noman and Sajid would probably have bagged two lots of 20. Their performance will go down in the Pakistan annals.
England had resumed on the third morning on 24 for three, still reeling from the events of the previous day, when Saud Shakeel’s craftsmanlike century, and the runs and wickets of Noman and Sajid had taken Pakistan halfway to victory.
Sajid Khan (right) was the character of the Test and turned England’s batters inside-out
Noman Ali was equally irrepressible as England failed to conjure up magic with the bat
For more than half an hour, Joe Root and Harry Brook suggested all was not lost. But their decline has gone hand-in-hand with England’s, their scores of 262 and 317 in the first Test now apparently part of a different series. So it proved once more.
Brook reached 26 before edging a ball from Noman he ought to have left alone. Stokes’s aberration followed in Noman’s next over, and it was 75 for six when Smith, after his high-class 89 on the first day, charged at Sajid and was bowled.
England were in freefall now. Root feathered behind to give the relentless Noman his fifth of the innings, before Sajid bowled Gus Atkinson through the gate and Rehan Ahmed behind his legs. When Jack Leach was comprehensively stumped, Pakistan needed 36. Despite the loss of Saim Ayub, their captain Shan Masood ensured they got there in 19 balls.
As Pakistan rejoiced in their first series win at home for almost four years, Masood calmly pointed out that spinning conditions were almost as alien to his own batsmen as they were to England’s, which was partly true.
Stokes, meanwhile, has cut an unusually diminished figure out here: all at sea with the bat, non-existent with the ball, insipid in the field. Since he missed England’s win in the first Test, his record in Asia this year is not a happy sight: six defeats out of seven, 252 runs at 18, and a lone wicket.
‘We weren’t able to stand up to the challenges Pakistan threw us,’ he said. ‘When we get thrown challenges that are not unexpected, we need to find a way fight back for longer.
Jack Leach’s stumping served up a suitably chaotic end to a torrid tenure in Pakistan
‘We did it for very small periods, but small periods in Test cricket isn’t long enough. When we do get that fightback, we need to do it for longer periods of time. It’s incredibly disappointing to lose a Test match.’
Given that England were widely predicted to lose in India at the start of the year, this defeat must go down as the worst result yet under Stokes and McCullum. Next month’s trip to New Zealand suddenly looms larger than anyone can have expected.
