Joe Root urged his England side to celebrate their series win over Pakistan “in a sensible, grown-up way” after a 194-run victory at Lord’s sealed a 2-0 lead in the three-match series, England’s first series win since December 2024.
England bowled Pakistan out for 194 on the final day to back up their innings and 103-run win at Headingley, but the build-up to the Lord’s Test was overshadowed by Brydon Carse’s withdrawal from the squad after he was handcuffed by police outside a Derby nightclub.
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The incident was the latest in a run of off-field controversies since England’s disastrous tour of New Zealand and Australia, including an altercation involving Harry Brook in Wellington and a curfew breach by Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson in June that saw the pair stood down for a Test.
Root, back in the captaincy following Stokes’ retirement
Root, back in the captaincy following Stokes’ retirement from international cricket, scrapped the curfew on his return and said he wanted the win to be the story rather than his players’ conduct away from the field.
England’s pace attack of Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Atkinson was again central to the victory, with Root saying he had high hopes for the group to build their own legacy in the way Anderson and Broad had done during his first spell as captain.
Root himself managed just 28 runs across the match and has now been dismissed lbw nine times in his past seven Tests, though he remains second on the all-time Test run-scoring list behind Sachin Tendulkar with more than 14,000 runs.
Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas took a five-wicket haul but said the team’s overall performance remained a concern, pointing to dropped catches that gifted England around 70 extra runs in their first innings as a key turning point in the match.
Source: www.sacricketmag.com
