England start life after Bazball with rout of Pakistan inside three days
LEEDS: England launched their post-Bazball era with an innings and 103-run thrashing of Pakistan in the first Test here at Headingley on Friday.
Facing a huge deficit of 238, Pakistan, who had been 51-2 in their second innings, lost four wickets for 25 runs on the way to being dismissed for just 135.
England pacemen Josh Tongue and Ollie Robinson, who took all 10 wickets between them in Pakistan’s meagre first-innings 171, once again did plenty of damage after fast bowler Jofra Archer removed both the openers.
The trio took three wickets apiece on Friday as England posted their seventh successive Test victory at Headingley — their longest sequence of wins at any home venue.
Recalled seamer Robinson was named player-of-the match for his overall figures of 8-80, while Tongue finished with 8-89.
“It’s a great way to start [the series],” said Robinson, who took a wicket with the very first ball of the match, at the presentation ceremony. “That’s my job, I suppose, setting the tone and to get a wicket first ball is a great feeling.”
He added: “It was nipping both ways, and I knew if I could control my length and my line, I was in the game.”
A comprehensive win with more than two days remaining at his Yorkshire home ground was an ideal way for Joe Root to begin his second stint as full-time England Test captain.
Former skipper Ben Stokes retired from international duty after a series loss at home to New Zealand in June, shortly before Brendon McCullum was sacked as red-ball coach.
This was just England’s third win in 11 Tests, albeit one achieved against a weak Pakistan side.
“You look at the prep we had leading in, coming straight from The Hundred, the fact we’re in a slight transition stage, but I thought the way that we dealt with all of that, the clarity and the way the guys approached this week has been outstanding,” said Root.
Pakistan stand-in captain Salman Ali Agha accepted his side had been well beaten, telling the BBC: “England have outplayed us.”
Salman, leading the side in place of the injured Babar Azam, added: “In batting, and bowling, we weren’t consistent enough.”
Pakistan left-arm spinner Ali Usman’s 5-95 — his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket — was a rare highlight for the tourists.
For the second time in the match, Pakistan were 0-1 on Friday when Archer dismissed Imam-ul-Haq for a duck as the left-hander, trying to evade a short delivery, gloved the ball to wicket-keeper Jamie Smith.
Azan Awais, out for a golden duck in the first innings, had made nine when he clipped Archer straight to Root at the rarely used position of leg slip.
It was something of a tactical coup for Root, like Brook playing in front of his home crowd, with Pakistan now 13-2.
Abdullah Shafique’s 61 had been the standout display in Pakistan’s first innings. But he could only manage 15 before he edged a full-length ball from Robinson to Brook at second slip.
Pakistan were 59-3 at lunch but they soon found themselves 76-6 following a triple strike from Tongue that included two wickets in an over.
Shan Masood, a former Yorkshire batsman used to playing at Headingley, nicked Tongue to first slip for 29 and, four balls later, Pakistan were 76-6 when Agha was lbw to the fast bowler.
Mohammad Rizwan briefly kept England at bay with 41 — the top score of the innings — at better than a run-a-ball before he was bowled by Gus Atkinson to leave Pakistan on the brink of defeat at 131-9.
The loss — Pakistan’s ninth in their last 10 away Tests — ended when Mohammad Abbas holed out off Archer.
Pakistan must regroup quickly as the second Test at Lord’s starts on Thursday.
“We’ll have two days off, then go to Lord’s and sit down and think about what mistakes we did and what we can think about in the next game,” said Salman. “We’ll come back stronger.”
On Thursday, Harry Brook punished Pakistan for dropping him at the start of his innings with a quickfire 91 that strengthened England’s grip on the Test.
England were 366-8 at stumps of a rain-marred second day, 195 runs ahead of Pakistan’s meagre first-innings 171.
The only sadness for the crowd was that neither of their local Yorkshire heroes were able to post a century, with Root out for 66 before Brook fell late in the day.
Dan Lawrence made 51 and put on 120 with Brook in England’s first Test of the post-Bazball era.
Jordan Cox (73) and Root had earlier shared a third-wicket stand of exactly 150 before falling in quick succession to give Pakistan a glimmer of hope in the first of this three-Test series.
Brook, however, should then have been out for one when he edged Khurram Shahzad only for diving Salman Ali Agha to drop the chance at second slip.
Brook cashed in and was in sight of what would have been his first Test century at Headingley — and 11th in 39 matches overall — when he tried to turn Ali Usman legside only for the ball to hit his leg before rattling the stumps. The 27-year-old faced just 93 balls, hitting 13 fours.
SCOREBOARD
PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 171 (Abdullah Shafique 61; J. Tongue 5-46, O. Robinson 5-51)
ENGLAND (1st Innings, overnight 366-8):
B. Duckett lbw b Abbas 15
E. Gay c Salman b Ali 33
J. Cox c Rizwan b Usman 73
J. Root lbw b Khurram 66
H. Brook b Usman 91
D. Lawrence c Rizwan b Usman 51
J. Smith c Shan b Khurram 25
G. Atkinson lbw b Usman 3
O. Robinson b Usman 0
J. Archer not out 23
J. Tongue b Khurram 8
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-10, NB-7) 21
TOTAL (all out, 89.5 overs) 409
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-36 (Duckett), 2-48 (Gay), 3-198 (Cox), 4-202 (Root), 5-322 (Lawrence), 6-356 (Brook), 7-364 (Atkinson), 8-364 (Robinson), 9-392 (Smith)
BOWLING: Abbas 25-5-78-1 (1nb), Khurram 21.5-1-133-3 (5nb), Ali 19-2-89-1 (1nb), Usman 24-1-95-5
PAKISTAN (2nd Innings):
Azan Awais c Root b Archer 9
Imam-ul-Haq c Smith b Archer 0
Shan Masood c Duckett b Tongue 29
Abdullah Shafique c Brook b Robinson 15
Saud Shakeel c Lawrence b Tongue 14
Salman Ali Agha lbw b Tongue 4
Mohammad Rizwan b Atkinson 41
Ali Usman c Cox b Robinson 7
Khurram Shahzad c Cox b Robinson 8
Mohammad Abbas c Lawrence b Archer 6
Mohammad Ali not out 0
EXTRAS (B-2) 2
TOTAL (all out, 37.3 overs) 135
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Imam), 2-13 (Azan), 3-51 (Abdullah), 4-68 (Saud), 5-73 (Shan), 6-76 (Salman), 7-95 (Usman), 8-111 (Khurram), 9-131 (Rizwan)
BOWLING: Robinson 11-3-29-3, Archer 10.3-1-50-3, Atkinson 8-4-11-1, Lawrence 1-1-0-0, Tongue 7-0-43-3
RESULT: England won by an innings and 103 runs.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ollie Robinson
Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2026
