Root takes charge, guiding England to series whitewash over Pakistan

REUTERS -- Joe Root guided England to a 3-0 series whitewash over Pakistan with an unbeaten 62, as his side overcame early tremors to win the third Test by eight wickets at Edgbaston.

England, chasing a victory target of 130, lost Ben Duckett to the first ball and opening partner Emilio Gay later in the same over from Muhammad Abbas.

But Root, who had a fortunate escape when he was bowled by Mohammad Ali on 23 off a no ball, brought all his experience to bear as England wrapped up their first series win for 19 months.

It was Ali’s 17th no ball of the series.

Pakistan’s last chance came and went when Root, on 38, edged Abbas between first and second slip who both left the ball for each other.

It was Root’s 110th innings of 50 or more in Test cricket, a total which includes 41 hundreds.

Pakistan, who conceded a first innings deficit of 320, showed commendable fight to take the game into a fourth day, but with Jordan Cox supplying solid back-up to his captain with an unbeaten 59, England eased to victory in the 25th over.

If only Pakistan had shown up in the first two Tests as they did belatedly in Birmingham this could have been an enthralling series. As it was, England’s total dominance made it something of a damp squib.

England, attempting to reboot after the New Zealand defeat which followed the Ashes loss, will not be complaining.

Notwithstanding the panic induced by Pakistan’s exciting debutant Razaullah, whose thrilling 81 from 63 balls electrified Edgbaston on Friday evening, it has been a satisfying return to the captaincy for Root following Ben Stokes’ retirement from international cricket.

Marcus Trescothick, appointed interim red-ball head coach after the sacking of Brendon McCullum, hands over a rejuvenated side to Stephen Fleming for the three-Test series in South Africa in December and January.

South Africa will be much stronger opposition, but if England can keep the quartet of Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson fit, they will be a threat.

The England pace bowling attack, led by Robinson who took 21 wickets, was too good for Pakistan on helpful surfaces.

The batting was not quite so convincing with no one able to make a century. With Jacob Bethell due to come back in for the winter tour after knee surgery, one batsman out of Emilio Gay, Dan Lawrence and Cox will have to make way. That situation remains fluid but Cox, who also kept wicket in the second innings because of Jamie Smith’s finger injury, did his cause no harm with his poised second innings performance.

For Pakistan, who have now lost 16 of their 21 Tests, it has been a chaotic tour capped off by the decision to replace seven players in the squad after the second Test and sack coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and his assistant Umar Gul.

At least, though, the ‘Raz-ball’ fightback in Birmingham showed there was still a pulse ahead of their next assignment against Sri Lanka in October.