Joe Root’s five biggest headaches ahead of second Pakistan Test – from the hangover effects of another England drinking scandal to the two struggling players fighting for their place
England’s first-Test victory over Pakistan at Headingley last week was a welcome win after only two in the previous ten games.
Returning captain Joe Root’s side now head to Lord’s for the second Test, starting Thursday, with the chance to secure a first series win since the end of 2024.
But after another drink-related fiasco and with a constant search for the right batting lineup, they still have questions to answer going into Lord’s.
Here, Daily Mail Sport looks at five of the most urgent.
Just when Joe Root was starting to inject positivity – and victories – back into the England Test team, more headaches have arisen
Can they put the Carse incident behind them?
Recent precedent is not encouraging. After Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson visited the Rex Rooms in Chelsea following the first-Test win over New Zealand at Lord’s in June, England disintegrated, for the first time ever losing a three-match home series from 1-0 up.
Now, two days before returning to the Home of Cricket, Joe Root spent almost the entirety of his 24-minute press conference addressing Brydon Carse’s arrest in Derby on Saturday night. He spoke for the whole of the ECB when he said he was ‘hacked off’.
Two factors are in England’s favour as they seek to avoid another meltdown. First, the latest shenanigans will not deprive them of any first-choice players. Against New Zealand at The Oval, by contrast, Stokes and Atkinson were stood down and they fielded a side including five players with a combined total of two caps.
Second, Pakistan are weaker than New Zealand, having lost nine of their last ten Tests away from home. Sections of their media have taken offence at the suggestion that this is the weakest Pakistan team to visit here for 50 years, but no one has yet come up with an alternative answer.
Brydon Carse and Ben Stokes’ night out in Derby has caused yet more problems for the ECB – now Root’s team must respond better than England have to previous incidents
Has Emilio Gay nailed down his spot yet?
Gay made an impressive start as Zak Crawley’s replacement as opener, making 57 – the highest innings of the match – as England won a low-scoring first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s, then adding 53 in the first innings at The Oval.
Three failures were followed by a good-looking 33 off 31 balls against Pakistan at Headingley, but his dismissal there – squared up by Mohammad Ali before edging to second slip – hinted at a technical weakness outside off stump.
Six of his seven dismissals have ended with catches in the cordon. And while one of them was a leg-side strangle, a pattern is in danger of emerging.
Gay deserves the chance to build on those two fifties, but his Durham team-mate Ben McKinney lies in wait.
Emilio Gay (left) has been caught behind six times out of seven dismissals in his Test career
Gay’s 6ft 7in Durham team-mate Ben McKinney looms large in the background if England need a replacement opener
Can Jordan Cox make life difficult for the selectors?
Initially chosen as a stand-in No3 while Jacob Bethell recovers from a knee injury, Cox began with 73 last week against Pakistan, batting with the swagger that earned him an Indian Premier League contract with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He later chastised himself for spurning a maiden Test hundred – music to England’s ears.
It seems inconceivable that England won’t return to Bethell for their next Test series, starting in South Africa in December, but Cox could yet stake a claim at No6, currently occupied by Dan Lawrence, or even for the wicketkeeper’s gloves.
It was behind the stumps that he would have made his Test debut in New Zealand in late 2024, only to break a thumb shortly before the series began. The option remains on England’s table.
Jordan Cox made an impressive 73 in England’s lone innings at Headingley but admitted he let a maiden Test hundred slip through his fingers
Does that mean Jamie Smith is under pressure?
Smith is among a group of players whose reputation is yet to recover from the disastrous Ashes last winter.
The 26-year-old has had his moments this summer, making a crucial 39 in the Lord’s shootout against New Zealand, and top-scoring with 60 in the second innings at Trent Bridge – though by then the game and the series were gone.
But he missed a chance to impose himself on the Pakistan bowling at Headingley, tamely miscuing a pull to mid-on, and has now made 364 runs at 20 since scoring 51 against India at Lord’s last summer.
Smith recently told Daily Mail Sport he has found it painful watching his batting average slump: it has just fallen below 40 for the first time since his second Test. His glovework remains fine, but he needs to prove he has ironed out his technical flaws, especially against the short ball and the nipbacker.
Jamie Smith needs to prove he has ironed out his technical flaws, especially against the short ball and the nipbacker
Are they any closer to solving their spin-bowling problem?
Not really. Shoaib Bashir is in the squad, but – with apologies to Lawrence – the lack of a genuine all-rounder means England can’t squeeze him in. And his chances of playing in the third Test at Edgbaston have been damaged by a season-ending groin injury to Sam Curran, whose presence and batting ability would have balanced the side.
England still seem lukewarm about the leg-spin of Rehan Ahmed, even though the 22-year-old who bats at the top of Leicestershire’s lineup would strengthen the lower order, but they will also argue there is no great urgency to resolve the issue.
Spin bowling is unlikely to play a central role in South Africa at the turn of the year, nor in next summer’s Ashes. It will be an issue in the two-Test series in Bangladesh in between, but those games are low on England’s list of priorities.
