Is Ben Stokes OK? Is Ollie Pope up to it? Have we seen the last of Jack Leach? Five questions for England after Test thrashing by Pakistan
England’s problems against spin were emphatically exposed by Pakistan during the third Test in Rawalpindi.
Brendon McCullum’s tourists were all out for 267 in their first innings, before being bowled out for just 112 in their second.
Pakistan eventually won by nine wickets to wrap up the series and leave England with many questions to answer.
Mail Sport’s LAWRENCE BOOTH was following the action closely in Rawalpindi.
He has some questions of his own, which he has listed below.
The England players seemed dejected after losing to Pakistan by nine wickets in Rawalpindi
1. Is Ben Stokes OK?
The England captain has never looked more imposing than in the last two Tests after missing the first through injury.
He scored 53 runs off 13, bowled 10 wicketless overs and lacked his usual enthusiasm and field acumen.
He needs to decipher it quickly in New Zealand.
Ben Stokes will be disappointed with his batting, bowling and fielding in the last two games
2. Is Ollie Pope willing to do that?
Stokes’ insistence that his team still had ‘the best six batsmen in England’ is being sorely tested by Ollie Pope, who averaged 11 against Pakistan.
Joe Root has become a de facto number three and if Pope fails in New Zealand it is difficult to see how England can justify picking him in 2025.
Ollie Pope averaged just 11 in Pakistan and he will need to perform much better in New Zealand
3. Have we seen the last of Jack Leach?
England next play a Test series in Asia in 2027, by which time Leach will be 35.
His best hope of adding to his 39 caps in the meantime is if Shoaib Bashir gets injured or loses form.
Leach defeated his Somerset colleague in Pakistan, taking 16 wickets at 31, and Bashir’s nine at almost 50.
But England appear married to Bashir, with Stokes even claiming it was a good thing his young off-spinner was learning on the job.
It remains to be seen whether Jack Leach has played his last Test match for England
4. Have they become flat-track bullies?
This series has done little to silence the critics who remained stubbornly unimpressed even after England made 823 for seven at 5.5 per over in the first Test in Multan.
And subsequent events have not diminished their skepticism.
Faced with first-class spin on pitches, England’s batsmen were as ignorant as ever before.
England captain Stokes was pictured looking at the pitch ahead of the recent match in Rawalpindi
5. Should we be concerned about Zak Crawley?
Four successive dismissals by Noman exposed the gulf between Crawley’s handling of spin and the excellence of his opening partner Ben Duckett. But Crawley’s strength has always been against the faster bowlers, and he will face plenty of that in 10 Tests next year.