England survive scare as Joe Root guides hosts to series whitewash over Pakistan at Edgbaston

Following a summer of chaos, it was apt that the cool head of Joe Root was there at the last to see England over the line, wrapping up an eight-wicket win and a Rothesay Test series whitewash of Pakistan.

Root had arrived in the middle at Edgbaston in the first over, with Mohammad Abbas seemingly having the ball on a string and England’s openers, both bewitched by his new-ball mastery, back in the changing room.

Abbas had been one of Pakistan’s tail-end heroes on Friday evening to breathe new life into a match that appeared to be in its dying embers, and in striking twice early on the fourth morning, provided hope of a comeback for the ages.

England set off in pursuit of 130 in the knowledge that only once had Pakistan successfully defended so few runs in Test history - against New Zealand back in 1993 when, with Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram in their pomp, they won with 127 to play with.

Not since the 1997 Ashes when Australia imploded for 104 had any team managed to seal a Test match win in this country when faced with 130 or fewer in the bank.

In Abbas, they couldn’t have wished for a better exponent of late-season English conditions to rewrite history: floodlights on, murk in the air and damp in the September surface.

Ben Duckett rounded off the most miserable of series with a first-ball departure, held low down by wicketkeeper Ghazi Ghori. Then, a dramatic start took in another twist when Abbas switched round the wicket to immediate reward: Emilio Gay pinned leg before by one that nipped back off the seam. Not for the first time this summer, Gay needlessly took a review with him.

Any hope of Pakistan pulling off a spectacular heist went, however, when Mohammad Ali overstepped for the 17th time in the series. Their delight at Root chopping into his stumps was transformed into agony by Paul Reiffel’s signalling of new ball and England, who should have been 35 for three, never looked back.

Yes, Root and his third-wicket partner Jordan Cox rode their luck at times, using the pace of Razaullah to flash early boundaries behind square. Root also edged perilously close to first slip on 34, but with the removal from the attack of Abbas - who, intent on making the most of the cloud cover, rejected the original ball handed to him before the start of play and selected his own from fourth umpire Russell Warren’s box - went Pakistan’s threat.

In the circumstances, England cantered home inside 25 overs, providing a modest crowd with 50% refunds, and the Test team with a first series win since 2024, by the widest of margins.

When Cox, whose 50 came at a slower tempo than Root’s, struck his 76th delivery into the covers and pounced on a misfield to scamper the winning run, the sense of fulfilment for England’s captain was palpable.

It has proved the most turbulent of Test summers, taking in multiple off-field indisciplines, the retirement of his close friend Ben Stokes and sacking of coach Brendon McCullum.

‘There's been a lot of chaos around this series before a ball was bowled and I think the way we've handled it on and off the field, the way everyone understands what is expected of them - both as a player and how we want to carry ourselves - is a really good thing,’ said Root.

‘The start of the series we wanted 3-0 and we've been clinical enough to do that.’

With their relationship thus far restricted to almost daily phone conversations, Root is scheduled to meet incoming Test coach Stephen Fleming for the first time in person between the New Zealander’s arrival in the UK on Monday and linking up with England’s one-day squad next weekend.

One of their most pressing tasks in preparing for their first assignment together, in South Africa from December, will be how to accommodate the returning Jacob Bethell. Both Cox, his replacement at three, and Dan Lawrence, named man of the match here, have staked claims to remain in the top six.