Pakistan are a rabble but Joe Root needs England to be challenged

The series is won and their opponents are in disarray, but the question going into the final Test of the summer remains: how much have we learnt about this England team?

Easy wins over Pakistan at Headingley and Lord's restored confidence after the battering of the Ashes and the end of the Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum era. New captain Joe Root re-established authority and a four-pronged seam attack has emerged to give England hope of winning back the Ashes next year.

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But with pitches so much in favour of English seam and swing – and Pakistan so poor – it is impossible to draw any definitive conclusions and, deep down, Root would relish more of a challenge in Birmingham this week.

The pitch looks flatter than either Leeds or Lord's and last year's Test at Edgbaston against India was a five-day run-fest with Shubman Gill scoring 430, the second-highest match aggregate of all time. It gives some hope for a more balanced contest between bat and ball.

Ollie Robinson has enjoyed an impressive return to Test cricket but is yet to be tested on a flat deck having missed the match at Trent Bridge where New Zealand's batsmen hit three hundreds. Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue can let rip with Robinson and Gus Atkinson so tidy with the wobble seam and Pakistan incapable of launching a counter-attack. England have bowled just three overs of spin in the first two Tests of this series, the balance of their side also untested after the retirement of Stokes.

Pitches, weather and a livelier batch of Dukes balls have all conspired to make this a bowling summer. Root is on course for a century-free summer, which would be the first time for him since 2019. Ben Duckett's 113 at Trent Bridge is the only England hundred in five Tests so far and if the trend continues this week it will be the lowest century count since 1999, although there were only four Tests that summer.

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The average runs per wicket (including extras) is just 25 and such has been the carnage wrought by bowlers that the balls per Test is the lowest since 1954, a summer when seven days were washed out. This all needs taking into account when assessing Emilio Gay's batting average of 23.44 and Robinson's bowling average of 8.34 runs per wicket.

"We've had conditions in our favour but, with ball in hand, we've been excellent," Root said. "For them [bowlers] to work together as well as they have done across the two games as a collective has been outstanding but if the conditions aren't the same, can we find a different way of taking 20 wickets? Can we find a different way of being effective, to dovetail well with each other?"

With Pakistan a rabble, the likelihood of being pushed seems remote. While Root was able to handle 20 minutes of questioning as if putting away half volleys in the nets, his counterpart spent his brief pre-match press conference dodging as many bullets as possible.

Babar Azam jumped out of his chair as quickly as he could once the Sky reporter had asked three questions in English. Babar washed his hands of any involvement in the axing of seven players after the Lord's Test and the announcement of an investigation into the behaviour of two.

You cannot blame him. Those were decisions taken at the top of the government in Pakistan and everyone is looking over their shoulder. Babar is a reluctant captain, and under pressure for his own lack of runs. He has not scored a Test hundred for three years and is in an unenviable position going into this game.

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He described this match as a "golden opportunity" for those drafted in at the last minute whereas others may have used the words "hospital pass". A minimum of four changes from the Lord's Test including a new opener, new keeper and two new bowlers.

That does pose a potential problem for England. Root admitted there is not a lot of footage of the three uncapped fast bowlers added to the squad: Mohammad Imran Jnr, Mohammad Imran Randhawa and Razaullah. "You go back 50 or 60 years and the guys didn't have video footage then but still found a way of figuring it out and understanding how they were going to operate," Root said. "Sometimes you just don't have all of the information to work from." England may have to think on their feet.

Gay resumes under pressure for his place and it could be a battle between him and Jordan Cox for a spot on the South Africa tour; the personal contest is perhaps more interesting than the one between the two teams. Root refused to look beyond this week, those discussions will take place when Stephen Fleming arrives as head coach after this Test. This series has been all about winning, restoring some pride in the team and moving on from the Stokes years.

Under the previous management dead rubbers were often tossed away. England lost to Sri Lanka by eight wickets at the Oval in 2024 with the series already sewn up. In some ways, that was when the rot set in. Stokes's side were similarly awful in Hamilton after going 2-0 up against New Zealand later that same year. Winning well at Edgbaston would be another way to put distance between the old and new.

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