They thrashed the ‘worst team in 50 years’... now ‘chaos’ Poms believe the Aussies are next

That may have been the worst Pakistan side in 50 years, but after trouncing them 3-0, England believe they have taken a big step towards winning back the Ashes next year.

Long-time Telegraph cricket writer Scyld Berry wrote after the second day of the series that “Pakistan’s Test side has never been poorer in the professional era of the last half-century”.

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But the tourists’ woes have not dampened England’s hopes of a flourishing life after Bazball.

“I think we’re in a better place than we were, definitely,” returning skipper Joe Root said after the third Test finished on Saturday night Australian time.

“Just having gone through [a tumultuous summer], I think you learn in chaos.

“You learn a lot about the group of players that you have, and for us to have come through this series as we have done, the way that we’ve gone about our cricket has been really pleasing, and as I say, [we want to] be a continuation of that now.

“In terms of everything that we’ve been through over the last little while, for us to now be able to have the clarity and come through the other side of chaos, I think is areally important part.

“You can only deal with what’s in front of you, right? And once everything unfolded how it did, it was how we responded to that, and that was the most important thing. And I think the group have done that brilliantly.”

With new coach Stephen Fleming watching on the couch at home, England thrashed Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs at Headingley, by 194 runs at Lord’s and then by eight wickets at Edgbaston.

The visitors were so shambolic that they even made seven changes to their squad and sacked two coaches ahead of the series finale – in which they blooded three debutants.

The current state of Pakistan cricket was best encapsulated by the plight of Salman Ali Agha on this tour.

The 32-year-old allrounder captained in Babar Azam’s absence in Leeds, was dropped from the XI for the Lord’s Test and then from the squad altogether in Birmingham.

It was a miserable series for those interested in Test cricket being an even contest.

Rain played a part in all three Tests with crowds also sparse at times.

The Telegraph’s Will Macpherson wrote after the first day at Edgbaston that a “cloudy, occasionally chilly Wednesday in September, with the kids back at school and the hottest summer on record becoming a distant memory” was a “bad advert” for Test cricket.

But among the negativity that surrounded Pakistan, multiple England greats and some of their leading scribes found a beam of light after several years in the darkness.

They believe they have uncovered a four-pronged pace attack capable of winning back the Ashes.

Even if they were flayed to all parts of Edgbaston by 21-year-old debutant Razaullah, who smashed nine sixes in a 63-ball innings of 81.

His stunning knock matched Ben Stokes’ record for the most sixes hit it in a Test innings in England and was the equal highest score by a No.9 on Test debut.

Razaullah’s exploits led to long-time BBC commentator Jonathan Agnew saying England’s tactics of the quicks bowling short and throwing the ball to part-time spinner were “utterly bonkers”.

While former England skipper Alistair Cook said alongside Agnew in the BBC commentary box that things “got out of control” for the hosts.

Regardless, like Australia, even though a three-Test tour of South Africa is on the horizon, the English cannot help but cast their mind forward to Trent Bridge on June 18 next year.

“Nobody in Australia will be able to sleep a wink for the next year,” The Telegraph’s Scyld Berry proclaimed during the Pakistan series.

“England’s Test team is coming together nicely – having threatened to fall apart at the seams at Trent Bridge in June – under the steely captain who is Joe Root second time round.”

“Jofra Archer and Ollie Robinson as an opening pair, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue as third and fourth seamers – why, they are beginning to merit comparison with the four right-arm quicks who made up the famous quartet of 2005: Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones,” Berry added.

That view is not only held by the media.

It is shared within the England camp too.

“I think we’ve got a good contrast in what we’re trying to do at the moment,” Marcus Trescothick, who served as interim coach during the Pakistan series and opened the batting in the 2005 Ashes, said after the Lord’s Test.

“What we do have is three guys bowling at 92 miles an hour, which is really nice to have in your armoury, and to have the potency in what you’re trying to do. The more that they play together and the more experience that everyone gets together, then it sort of fits into place.

“We do have some real skill, and you look back to ‘05 and the sort of comparisons of Harmy, Fred, Simon and Hoggy. But I’m enjoying the fact that we’ve got four who are match-fit at the moment and we’ve a few behind it that we’re starting to get ready.”

The exploits of Archer, Robinson, Tongue and Atkinson have made a mark on Australians in England too.

Former Australian ODI and T20 quick Mick Lewis is an assistant coach at Yorkshire and stood up and took notice during the recent Test at his county’s home ground, Headingley.

“They’re building a good a little arsenal,” Lewis told foxsports.com.au.

“We get to see a lot of them and if they can keep their bowlers on the park for the next Ashes series, I think they’re a big chance to knock Australia off to be honest.”

It is no coincidence that the comments pumping up England’s bowlers come with the backdrop of Australia’s batting struggles against Bangladesh and the uncertain make-up of Australia’s top order.

Just as they felt before heading down under, England know that Australia’s batting is a weakness that can exploit.

But Michael Vaughan, who captained England to their drought-breaking 2005 Ashes triumph, wants to see a lot more from this current crop.

“It’s been easy to get excited about this England attack this series,” he wrote in The Telegraph on Saturday.

“There have even been some comparisons to the 2005 Ashes attack. It is way too early for that sort of talk. They are all still learning and developing.”

It was a slight change in tune from his column following the second Test.

“Every side in the world will fear this England bowling attack if they keep doing what they have done over these first two Test matches,” Vaughan wrote.

“So, we can’t judge England in terms of their numbers against this team. But what I have seen in attitude, body language, pace – I want to see that against the better teams,” he added.

“Against a team like this, it’s easy to be up for the challenge. It’s easy to have your body language strong, it’s easy to want the ball when it’s a Pakistan batsman. You’re not going to get hurt. There is not one Pakistan batsman who can hurt you – who can hit you off your length or take you out of the attack.

“So, it has been very, very easy. Now I want to see it in South Africa and on the first morning against Australia at Trent Bridge next year: Archer and Tongue reaching 90mph, and everyone keeping up their speeds over their second and third spells. And even into a second day of bowling, if that is what it takes.”

High pace was all the rage leading into the last Ashes series in Australia.

But aside from Mitchell Starc’s heroics, it was the likes of Scott Boland and Michael Neser who tore England’s heart out with Alex Carey standing up to the stumps.

New Zealand’s Matt Henry and Nathan Smith then did likewise with Tom Blundell up to the pegs earlier this English summer.

Against Pakistan, England then took a page out of their rivals’ book as the returning Ollie Robinson ran riot with Jamie Smith donning a helmet behind the stumps.

The ploy has got on the nerves of former England fast bowler Stuart Broad, who said on Sky Sports that he does not want to see an Ashes series battle between Carey and Smith standing up to the stumps to the seamers.

Wobble seam has dominated in recent years, but Robinson took it to new levels against Pakistan.

The Telegraph’s Nick Hoult wrote that his numbers for the series “look like a misprint”.

His series tally of 21 wickets at an average of 8.76 has drawn comparisons to Boland’s blistering start to his Test career.

Like Australia’s seamers in recent summers, Robinson has been aided by bowler friendly surfaces – most notably at Lord’s where he took 15 wickets across two Tests against New Zealand and Pakistan.

But is it not just the pitches working in his favour.

Australian first-class players have spoken regularly of the new-look Kookaburra ball’s impact on falling batting averages.

A harder seam and another layer of lacquer have given seamers more to with.

Now, after eight lbw dismissals in ten innings this English Test summer, Joe Root shared his view that the Dukes ball has followed the Kookaburra’s lead.

The England skipper’s comments will be music to the Australian fast bowlers ears after benign surfaces and a lifeless batch of Duke balls that were constantly asked to be changed – most notably when England turned The Oval Test on its head with a change to an older version – in 2023.

“I think the balls have been very different this year,” Root said after the Lord’s Test.

“I think there’s a different lacquer to them. I don’t know, I’ve not got evidence on that... and [you] probably need to ask Dukes, but I think there’s a lacquer on the seam. They don’t want them to go out of shape and get them changed, and I think that they are affecting the wickets as well.

“I think they’re dinting more. As a batter when you practise, they’re cracking your bats more frequently and they seem a lot firmer. And if they’re dinting the wickets, then it’s going to seam off the dints as well. It’s going to make it move more. I wonder if there’s an element of that to it as well.”

The more challenging conditions did not mean England’s batters did not get the chance to get started, however.

Root may have been well below his usual lofty standards with scores of 66, 4, 24, 8 and 62 not out against Pakistan.

But the likes of recalled pair Jordan Cox and Dan Lawrence, new opener Emilio Gay, wicketkeeper Jamie Smith and white-ball captain Harry Brook flirted with going big.

“As for the batting, Fleming will see a little of himself in England’s numbers,” The Telegraph’s Nick Hoult wrote.

“He converted only 16 per cent of his half-centuries in his long Test career; almost the definition of being hard to beat but will not win Tests against the top sides.

“England have turned one fifty into a hundred this summer. A total of 21 half-centuries from nine different players is a curious lack of ruthlessness.

“Four failed to convert in this innings (at Edgbaston), and England will end the season with one century, which would be the first time that has happened in a six-Test summer.”

Brook was the biggest culprit for that slice of unwanted history.

The 27-year-old was bowled trying to work a ball to the leg side when in complete control on 91 in front of his home crowd in Leeds.

He then ran himself out on 75 in Birmingham.

Hoult’s colleagues at The Telegraph Tim Wigmore and Will Macpherson wrote that Brook’s knack for chucking his wicket away and falling short of three figures was “unbecoming of the world’s No.1 Test batsman”.

While former England captain Nasser Hussain can see squandering such opportunities being an issue against Australia.

Brook has never scored an Ashes century but has made six fifties in ten Tests against the Australians.

He has only been out between 30 and 50 seven times in Ashes Tests.

It is a trend that the vice-captain will need to buck if England are to win back the Ashes in 2027.

“You can beat Pakistan with 40s, 50s and 60s. To beat Australia, or the New Zealand side we saw earlier in the summer, you need big hundreds and massive scores,” Hussain told Sky Sports.

“England just need to convert those starts into big scores.”

Broad had a little more sympathy for the batters.

“Top-order batting has been very difficult in this series,” he told Sky Sports.

“Root, England’s best-ever player, has struggled for runs in this series. If he’s struggling, it’s okay for everyone else to struggle.

“We can’t praise the likes of Ollie Robinson, who is getting 20-odd wickets at an average of around 6.00, and also say, ‘We should be getting more centuries.’

“To be honest, this summer I think a 60 has felt like a hundred.

“You’ve had to work as hard for a 60 on these pitches as you would for a hundred on a normal Test match surface.”

Vaughan, meanwhile, believes such a suggestion is being too lenient - even if plenty of positive signs have emerged.

“Overall, it’s been a poor Test summer for England,” the former captain wrote in The Telegraph.

“They lost the series against a good side and beat a team they should beat. I was delighted with the way Pakistan came back into the series and think, in time, England will reflect that they are grateful for the challenge provided.

“Besides their tactics on the third evening, they have largely operated in a sensible fashion this summer. There has simply been an outbreak of good sense.

“Root is clearly the right man for the job: level-headed, humble, forthright when he needed to be. Lawrence and Robinson have been sensible picks. Marcus North is a sensible man, and a sensible appointment.

“The same is true of Fleming, but the third Test has provided a reminder of how much work he has to do in this job.”

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