After a boozy culture of haplessness, England may just have stumbled upon a winning formula with players who can be trusted to make the most of their talents, writes LAWRENCE BOOTH

England have played so many ‘must-win’ Tests over the past two years that the phrase is in danger of losing its meaning. Yet victory over Pakistan at Lord’s this week would reacquaint them with a feeling that has indisputably gone out of fashion.

Not since late 2024 have England won a Test series, a barren patch verging on a drought that has included the botched 2–2 draw with India, the Ashes debacle and a home series against New Zealand that spiralled out of control amid another of the drinking fiascos that is in danger of defining this team.

It doesn’t matter that Pakistan – one of only two teams below England in the World Test Championship – will be less of a scalp than any of their recent opponents. The winning feeling simply has to be restored in plenty of time for next summer’s assault on the Ashes, and England are in no position to be picky.

A couple of weeks ago, the return to the captaincy of Joe Root seemed to sum up the lack of options in the post-Ben Stokes era. Vice-captain Harry Brook was considered damaged goods because of his own misadventure in Wellington, and there were no other candidates – an indictment of English cricket’s production line.

Right now, the idea that Stokes might make a comeback against Australia next summer seems more absurd than ever.

Root must know it too, despite the strength of the two men’s relationship. When he was asked on Tuesday what he made of the fact that Stokes was there in Derby so soon after he was there in Chelsea’s Rex Rooms, he dodged the question.

Yet it is clear that Stokes’s absence from the dressing-room reduces the chances of a younger, perhaps more impressionable, English cricketer – Gus Atkinson in Chelsea, Carse and Matthew Potts in Derby – staying out past bedtime. So much for his oft-repeated assertion that ‘nothing good ever happens after midnight’.

And that’s why Root’s challenge now goes beyond winning, while being unavoidably linked to it: he must instil a culture that regards late-night boozing as an activity best left to 20-somethings who are not paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to stay fit.

Because of their own haplessness, England have stumbled across a set-up that may be better equipped to make the most of their players’ talents than the previous regime. The chat has moved on from stale exhortations – ‘express yourself’, ‘be where your feet are’ – to reconnecting with a public who have grown sick of the mayhem.

As Josh Tongue, who was eventually exonerated after the Cricket Regulator investigated his role in the Wellington night out with Brook, put it: ‘We had a chat before training on Tuesday and Joe said out straight we want to be the best professionals and we want the next generation to be in the best place they can be.’

If one upshot of a messy few months is that the players are looking beyond their bubble and seeing their place in the wider scheme of things, that can only be a good thing. It’s not that we should expect them to be impeccable role models: that is asking too much. But some awareness of their impact on the outside world can do no harm.

Any more of this, and Stephen Fleming will inherit an oasis of calm when he takes over as head coach in time for the tour of South Africa.

It helps Root’s cause that England now have a fast-bowling quartet to rival anything they have put on the field since Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad were in their pomp.

Jofra Archer appears to have put his injury problems behind him, Ollie Robinson is averaging 10 in his comeback season, Atkinson has a ridiculous record at Lord’s, where his 26 Test wickets have cost nine each, and Tongue – like Robinson – took career-best match figures last week at Headingley.

Assuming England stick with the team who won in Leeds by an innings and 103, they will feature an unchanged side for the first time since the opening two Tests of last summer’s series against India – another example of the stability Root craves.

It has arrived, admittedly, in a roundabout way. Six of the players who appeared in the first Test against India – Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Stokes, Chris Woakes, Carse and Shoaib Bashir – will not play at Lord’s. And three of the XI here – Tongue, Emilio Gay and Jordan Cox – are yet to taste victory in a Test series.

On paper, it hardly resembles a recipe for success. But Pakistan, even boosted by the return from a hand injury of their captain, Babar Azam, will need to improve hugely on their Headingley performance even to ensure a proper contest, and Root’s dressing-room dressing-down on Tuesday morning appears to have been met by a captive audience.

If the weather plays ball, along with the capricious Lord’s pitch, England can slowly begin changing the discourse – and no one will begrudge them a quiet beer.