England thrash Pakistan inside three days as Joe Root's second era as captain starts with innings win at Headingley

21.08.2026, 18:06 skysports.com

Joe Root won his first Test back as permanent England captain by an innings and 103 runs with Pakistan rolled for 135 before tea on day three at Headingley.

A visiting side who had been demolished for 171 in 48.1 overs on day three were bundled out in 37.3 second time around in Leeds after England made 409 in their sole innings of the series opener.

Jofra Archer (3-50), much improved from a rusty first-innings effort, struck twice early on to reduce Pakistan to 13-2 and Josh Tongue's (3-43) three-wicket burst post-lunch, including that of Shan Masood (29), pretty much ended any hope of the visitors making it to day four.

Root was rewarded for some funky fields - Azan Awais (9) clipped Archer to him at leg slip, Saud Shakeel (14) picked out Dan Lawrence in an unorthodox backward square spot off Tongue - as his team crushed their inexperienced opponents.

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Gus Atkinson (1) cleaned up a swiping top-scorer Mohammad Rizwan (41) to put England on the brink before Mohammad Abbas (6) ballooned Archer to Lawrence to end a one-sided contest, one in which Ollie Robinson (3-29) and Tongue bagged eight wickets each,

England are now toasting just a third win in their last 11 Tests and if they triumph in the second game at Lord's from Thursday - 11am first ball, live on Sky Sports - they will secure a first series victory since a 2-1 success in New Zealand in December 2024.

They did thrash Zimbabwe in a one-off game at Trent Bridge last summer but have lost two and drawn one of their last three multi-match contests, with a 2-2 stalemate against India preceding a 4-1 drubbing in Australia and 2-1 home defeat to New Zealand.

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