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The sounds heard coming from the Headingley area at 3.38pm on Friday were not simply the belching roars of the Western Terrace as England wrapped up a one-sided victory over Pakistan. A pressure valve had also been released.
One win against a team as ragged as this Pakistan one might not have been reason for Joe Root to hang bunting off the Dickie Bird balcony at his home ground. But given events this year – events that have thrust Root back into the Test captaincy under an interim head coach – the alternative was unthinkable.
There were banana skins ready to upend England this week, not least the rogue scheduling that asked their players to make an instant switch from the quickfire action of the Hundred to a Test match. In the case of Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson, this came three days after playing in Sunday’s final.
And for Root there was a need to change the narrative around his captaincy and restore a sense of calm in the England dressing room. The fact is, the majority of these players lived and breathed every aspect of life under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. A number went on record saying they were “gutted” it was over.
But while it would be wrong to say they did not break a sweat here – Harry Brook was seen rubbing the ball on Ollie Robinson’s back at one stage – England were clinical all the same. After making 409 all out for a 238-run lead, they skittled Pakistan for 135 to win by an innings and 103 runs in three days.
Other than being one of four English batters to get past 50 but fall short of three-figures, Root could scarcely have wished for a more straightforward return to the job. Lasting just 175.3 overs, and denying Yorkshire of two days of action in their final men’s Test match until 2029, this was near total domination.
The chief difference was with the ball. While Pakistan’s seamers underwhelmed – not helped by some shambolic fielding – England’s were ruthlessly efficient. Better sides would have struggled to cope with the blend of Robinson’s metronomic wobble-seam and the slippery pace of the other three arrows in Root’s quiver.
There was a sense of inevitability about this blend inflicting a second Pakistan collapse once England had nudged past their first 400-plus total in 19 innings on the third morning. And again it began with the tourists losing one of their openers before their first run was on the board when Jofra Archer got things moving.
After adding 23 brisk runs with the bat, Archer’s fifth ball angled into Imam-ul-Haq and flicked gloves that should have been lower as he swayed. It was the first of three for Archer, for the second of which Root moved himself to leg slip – a regular feature of his predecessor’s playbook – before Azan Awais sprung the trap on nine.
It was the combination of Robinson and Tongue that troubled the tourists over the course of two innings, however, with the pair picking up three wickets apiece in the victory charge to both finish with eight overall. Unlike the match ball the pair had amusingly split on day one, Robinson claimed player of the match all for himself.
Tongue first, who tucked up Saud Shakeel on 14 to send a catch to the lesser-spotted backward square leg, then nicked off Shan Masood for 29, and pinned Salman Ali Agha lbw for four. For all that England have struggled these past 12 months, his 34 victims at 25 – plus the hardiness that has helped him play all through this summer, all formats – points to the emergence of a significant bowler.
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Robinson, on the other hand, is a re-emergence, with his skill never in doubt but his attitude unfancied by the management for two years. After collecting seven wickets on his return at Lord’s in June, the 32-year-old has 15 at 10 runs a-pop this summer. The final box to tick is showing he can operate in games that go deeper; that the back won’t go into spasm when the pitch is less conducive.
On surfaces like this one, however, he is a banker – forever probing that off-stump line and asking questions. Here he persuaded Abdullah Shafique to send an edge to second slip and mopped up a couple of tail-enders. Another feature to this was Jamie Smith’s quietly efficient performance standing up to the stumps, the wicketkeeper having been drilled hard by Sarah Taylor during the training days.
But save for Jordan Cox looking so swaggeringly assured with 73 in his first crack at No 3, and Brook’s 91 both measured but no less breezy, there is a nagging sense that England have learned precious little by dint of Pakistan’s current funk.
Mohammad Rizwan top-scored with a punchy 41 on the final day before Atkinson wiped out his off stump, while 24 hours earlier Ali Usman claimed a rare five-wicket haul for a spinner in these parts. But overall, it was hard to be optimistic about the remainder of this series becoming more competitive as it goes on.
Root, who nudged his victories as captain, 28, back above his defeats, 27, won’t mind this. Like many others, his main query is why his home ground – a ground where England have now won their last seven in row – has been overlooked for the Ashes bid he is increasingly likely to lead next summer.
