New Root era begins with thumping Pakistan win but off-the-pitch behaviour still an issue

Joe Root’s second tenure as England Test captain got off to the perfect start at Headingley as his side trounced a lacklustre Pakistan team by an innings and 103 runs inside three days.

However, just two days after England’s win, videos circulated online of fast bowler Brydon Carse – who didn’t play in the first Test but was listed in the wider squad for the second – being led away in handcuffs by police from a nightclub in Derby. This incident, which did not result in Carse’s arrest, does nothing to help the efforts of Root and the new leadership team to steer attention away from the off-the-pitch struggles that have dominated English cricket in the last 12 months. In that time more than a quarter of England’s 30 centrally contracted players have been involved in incidents of a similar nature to what occurred with Carse.

Before his first Test back in charge Root decided against extending the midnight curfew and alcohol guidelines that had been in place for the team since January. The 35-year-old urged his players to try and be ‘really good role models’ and ‘good human beings’ away from cricket. It is a plea that has fallen on deaf ears yet again within the England team and one suspects that the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) is quickly running out of patience.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of all of this is that on the pitch England were brilliant, outclassing Pakistan in all facets of the game and showing the kind of ruthlessness that they had sorely missed towards the end of Root’s first stint in charge. Pakistan were a wicket down without scoring in both of their innings and their makeshift batting lineup looked completely outmatched by England’s impressive salvo of seamers. Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue in particular were unplayable in conducive conditions and both bowlers registered career-best figures with eight wickets each, including the rejuvenated Robinson taking a wicket with the first ball of the match.

With bat in hand England were positive but not profligate

With bat in hand England were positive but not profligate, with multiple hard-fought fifties in their first-innings score of 409 providing a welcome change from the chaotic batting that had accompanied the final stages of Bazball. Jordan Cox looked composed as he made 73 in only his third Test innings and, after battling back from a freak thumb injury and a series of selection near-misses, the Essex man has the rest of the series to stake his claim in this new-look England project going forward.

Cox wasn’t the only man to capitalise on some advantageous circumstances as the returning Dan Lawrence made a risk-free 51, his 5th half-century in his 16th Test. Lawrence, like Cox, has always seemed more on the periphery of the England setup. However, with new coach Stephen Fleming watching on from afar before joining up with the squad in September, this could be a pivotal time for England players like Lawrence with something to prove. This is only a second win in 19 for Root as captain, reflecting the bleak end of his first tenure, but he was absolutely faultless throughout. His field settings were effective and his assured 66 with the bat dispelled any fears around how getting the captaincy back might affect him. The only gripe that he could possibly have with events on the pitch is that his team were hardly tested. Pakistan have a dreadful record away from home in recent years and they were without their talismanic captain Babar Azam for this Test at Headingley, a ground where England’s most recent defeat came in 2017. Anything other than a home series win from here would be unforgivable, and with a massive home Ashes on the horizon England can ill afford another costly misstep.