Pope, Stokes & bowlers - five talking points from Pakistan

Ben Stokes' England have won 10 and lost 10 of their last 21 Tests

England have been spun to defeat in Pakistan, for the first time losing a three-match series they led 1-0.

It is just the second series they have lost under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, though it also means their balance sheet for 2024 is not in credit. Played 14, won seven and lost seven.

There is only a short time before the tour of New Zealand and plenty to chew over before the first Test in Christchurch on 28 November.

How good are England?

When England are good, they are exhilarating. When they are bad, they are downright infuriating.

The last tour of Pakistan, a 3-0 win in 2022, was the peak of the Bazball movement. The Test that followed, against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui, took England's record under Stokes and McCullum to played 11, won 10 and lost one.

Since then, England have played 21, won 10 and lost 10. They would probably have a winning record had the Manchester rain during the Ashes not produced the only draw. As it stands, they are sixth out of nine in the World Test Championship table.

There is mitigation. Stokes and McCullum have revamped an aging squad and this year alone England have played more in Asia than at home - though New Zealand have shown winning here is far from impossible.

England's positivity, togetherness and determination to enjoy the privilege of playing international sport is genuinely admirable.

But – and this is a big 'but' – winning and losing matters. Maybe it is difficult to blend carefree entertainment with consistent results, though it is on results England will ultimately by judged.

All Tests are important, starting with New Zealand. After that, India at home followed by Australia next winter will shape the legacy of this team. The judgement day is upon us.

The captain and vice-captain

England need a consistent number three and a full-strength Stokes, and currently have neither.

Stokes deserves some slack. Hampered by his left knee for so long, he had just got back to chest-pumping all-rounder status in the home summer when he was sawn off by his hamstring. Returning for the final two Tests in Pakistan he was feeling his way back. By not bowling and managing only 15 runs in the third Test, he was almost a non-playing captain.

Ollie Pope is a bigger problem. A match-winner when he gets in, he is not getting in enough to win any matches. In his last 12 knocks the vice-captain has reached 30 once, and when he did he made 154.

England have backed him, and will be desperate for him to get runs in New Zealand. Still, even if Pope does succeed in the short-term, there is a nagging doubt over his ability to produce consistently against the very best attacks.

Pope is helped by the lack of obvious alternatives to fill the number-three slot. Joe Root is the best option, yet has never wanted to bat there. Harry Brook and Jamie Smith have sound techniques and are succeeding in their slots at five and seven. Michael Vaughan, writing in The Telegraph, says moving Stokes to three would solve two issues at once.

The variable in all of this is Jordan Cox. If he does well covering for father-to-be Smith in New Zealand, England might find him hard to ignore. It is on Pope to ensure he is not the man squeezed out.

Spin war

This is the end of a four-year Asian adventure for England. After 17 Tests here since the beginning of 2021, they are not back until 2027.

While the batters and pace bowlers breathe a sigh of relief, the spinners must wonder where it leaves them. Barring an injury to Shoaib Bashir, there has to be a question over whether 33-year-old Jack Leach will ever play for England again.

As England's designated number one, Stokes has admitted 21-year-old Bashir is learning on the job. He struggled in the four Tests Pope captained, but his record under Stokes' nurturing hand is pretty good - an average of 32 with a strike-rate of 55. As a very loose comparison, Nathan Lyon averages just over 30 with a strike-rate of nearly 62.

Bashir's biggest challenge will come in Australia, where men in green helmets will try to whack him out of the southern hemisphere. He seems to have the temperament not to be cowed, the question will be whether he has the skill, guile and craft to do the job that will be required.

England have another dilemma over how to get the best out of the precocious Rehan Ahmed. Since making his debut here as an 18-year-old, the leg-spinner has played five Tests, all in Asia. He makes things happen. Ahmed's strike-rate of 47.1 is the best of any England spinner with at least 20 wickets since 1928.

To consign Ahmed only to tours of Asia as a second or third spinner feels like a waste. If he takes his Test batting a little more seriously - he bats as high as five for Leicestershire - the 20-year-old can make himself more valuable.

As a start, England should at least give consideration to promoting Ahmed to Bashir's understudy, especially if they need an X-factor in Australia.

Pace pack

The impressive emergence of Brydon Carse is the latest stage in the rebuilding of an England pace attack in a previously unthinkable world without James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Not everything is about the Ashes but, for this area of the team, that plane journey to Perth in November next year is paramount. Stokes is not the first England captain to put together a long-term plan to have a pace battery down under. He will know plenty before him have arrived for a gun battle armed only with pea shooters.

A year out, there is a long list of names that could find themselves in Australia: Carse, Matthew Potts, Mark Wood, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone, Josh Hull, Dillon Pennington and John Turner.

What about Jofra Archer, whose latest return from injury is being painstakingly managed? It would be joyous to see Archer back in England whites and he has said that is his long-term goal.

How England get him to that point is ticklish. There are tighter restrictions around entering the Indian Premier League auction this year, to mitigate against players dipping in and out of lucrative deals.

For Archer to get back to the Test team, he will surely have to play for Sussex at some point. The most obvious time to do so would be in the early part of the 2025 summer, when the County Championship clashes with the IPL.

Then there is the wildcard, Dan Worrall. The 33-year-old, born in Melbourne and with three Australia ODI caps, qualifies to play for England in the spring thanks to a British passport and three seasons with Surrey. Alec Stewart has likened him to Anderson.

When Kent fast bowler Martin McCague, raised in Western Australia, played for England in the early 1990s the Aussie media called him "the rat that joined the sinking ship". Just imagine the hullabaloo if Worrall is part of the England squad this time next year.

Test cricket is far from dying

The health, or lack thereof, of Test cricket is debated so much it is in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

England's tour of Pakistan has been rich for its record-breaking and changing conditions, New Zealand have pulled off something special in India, while South Africa are doing well in Bangladesh.

The idea of windows for Test cricket to thrive away from franchise leagues is happening organically. Now they need formalising.

The World Test Championship is coming to the boil. India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka all have something to play for, and the upcoming Australia-India series has more spice because of it. What a shame England are not in the race.

Rumours of Test cricket's demise are greatly exaggerated. It just needs some TLC.