On Tuesday, a determined England side swept the Pakistani cricket series with an eight-wicket victory in the third and final test. In its first test tour to Pakistan in 17 years, England opened the day needing another 55 runs to win and reached 170-2 after 38 minutes to claim its second straight victory with more than a day to spare.
This was Pakistan’s first-ever 3-0 defeat in a home three-test series. In the second innings, Pakistan was dismissed for 216 by 18-year-old rookie Rehan Ahmed (5-48), giving England a manageable 167-run victory mark. Ben Duckett resumed on 50 and was still undefeated at 82 off 78 balls. Ben Stokes finished 35 unbeaten to cap off his team’s overwhelming Bazball-style of aggressive play.
The first test was won by England by 74 runs on a flat wicket in Rawalpindi on the final day in waning light before they won the 2nd test by an exciting 26 runs at Multan on a slow-turning pitch in four days.
England’s aggressive gameplan
It was Pakistan’s first defeat at the National Stadium in 15 years and just the third in 45 test matches. Before South Africa won a test match here seven years later, England was the first team to defeat Pakistan there in a test match in 2000.
After Australia defeated Pakistan in the final test earlier this year to clinch the two-test series 1-0, the 3-0 thrashing was also Pakistan’s fourth straight test loss at home. Pakistan was unable to find the proper combination to combat England’s aggressive gameplan, which started at home this summer and has already resulted in them winning nine of the previous 10 test matches and was kept at bay for the last three weeks. Prior to the Proteas being defeated 2-1 in the series, England’s lone loss during that time span was against South Africa at Lord’s.
3-0 clean sweep against Pakistan
Four of England’s batters scored hundreds on the first day of the first test, and the visitors amassed a world-record 506-4, setting the stage for a clean sweep in Pakistan. By scoring three consecutive test hundreds while on tour and amassing 468 runs, the young Harry Brook seamlessly filled the void left by the injured Jonny Bairstow. Before Pakistan fell to Ahmed’s leg-spin in the second innings, his 111 in Karachi gave England a crucial first-innings lead of 50 runs.
Pakistan’s current WTC standing:
Azam’s team has 38.89% of the points after losing the Test series to England, and while they are still mathematically in the running to win the WTC, it will require a lot of support from other teams for Pakistan to get to the championship match.
They can get as high as 47.62%, which would be sufficient, but they will need assistance from other parties.
Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and South Africa are the remaining five teams with a chance to compete in the World Test Championship final the following year.
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