NEWS
Follow UsEngland suffered back-to-back defeats in Pakistan to lose the series 1-2 after being 1-0 up after the first Test in Multan. They were bowled out for 291 and 144 in the second Test in Multan (lost by 152 runs) and 267 and 112 in the third Test in Rawalpindi (lost by nine wickets) to concede the series after a strong start.
With batting under tremendous pressure, the England skipper Ben Stokes came forward in their support claiming it to be the best top six in England at present.
"There's no doubt in my mind that we have got the best top six batsmen in England,” Stokes said after the series defeat.
"They're the best players in England," Stokes told Sky Sports. "We play all around the world and going to New Zealand in a couple of weeks' time is going to be completely different [to Pakistan]. But there's no doubt in my mind, no doubt in Brendon's mind, that we have got the best top-six players in England.
"You can't shut the door on everything, because then you're just being very single-minded towards what you want to do. But going back to the point before, there's no doubt in my mind that we have got the best top-six batsmen in England. Sometimes guys will reap the rewards of performing well out in the middle, and unfortunately, some other guys will miss out."
Ollie Pope had a disappointing series, averaging 11 for his 55 runs across five innings. He also missed out in the first Test, bagging a duck in England’s gigantic first innings score of 823/7 declared. However, Brendon McCullum, England’s head coach, clarified that Pope’s spot is not in danger.
"It is not an easy place to bat at No. 3," he told the BBC. "I know Popey will be disappointed with the volume of runs he got in this series, but I expect him to bounce back strongly in New Zealand and we will make sure he's got the required support around him to do so.
"Obviously, Popey's had a bit of a tough tour in terms of his output of runs [but] we know that when Popey gets in, he makes big scores - and makes defining scores as well…We've got a pretty good idea of what the make-up of the squad will be for New Zealand, with the conditions that we'll be confronted with."
Pakistan dished out low turning tracks in the last two Tests, making big changes in their batting and bowling line-up, going on to drop Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. In came Kamran Ghulam who notched up a hundred on debut, and the spin duo of Sajid Khan and Noman Ali. The two spinners picked 39 of England’s 40 wickets in the two wins at only 17.4 runs apiece. In comparison, the England finger-spinners – Shoaib Bashir and Jack Leach – managed 17 wickets between them at 35.5 runs per wicket. However, Stokes felt his spinners did a decent job and Pakistan played their conditions better.
"The difference between [the teams in] these two games was the understanding of how to bowl in these conditions the Pakistan spinners showed, but that's not taking anything away from how our spinners have played in this series. I think they've done a fantastic job to take the wickets that they've done.
"Shoaib in particular, I said to him the other day, 'You are getting to learn on the job here. You're getting to learn about yourself as a bowler through the Test match. You're being able to work out how to bowl in different conditions at different phases of the game, and how exciting, how good is that?' He's absolutely loved it."
Stokes himself had a poor outing in the series both as captain and a player. He missed the first Test due to his hamstring injury. Returning for the final two Tests, he managed only 53 runs in four innings and bowled only 10 overs in the second Test going wicketless. The England skipper stressed he has fully recovered and didn’t bowl in the last Test owing to the conditions.
"I worked very, very hard to get back in for that second Test. I just didn't feel like my bowling was going to be anywhere near as threatening as the (other) options we had. In terms of my fitness with me not bowling, that's got nothing to do with it."
England will now clash with New Zealand in an away Test series starting November 27.
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