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Highlights: Root and Cox guide England to victory after early scare

It is 2026 and Joe Root is again England Test captain and Kevin Pietersen is back in the fold. For those two things to be the new normal says plenty about the upheaval in one of the most turbulent summers in English cricket's recent history.

The debate as to whether there should have been alterations to the leadership after the Ashes has become a moot point, because England have nevertheless ended in a post-Bazball era. Has the lack of change in the spring led to a wasted summer? Try telling any of Jordan Cox, Emilio Gay or Dan Lawrence that the summer has been wasted. Or a resurgent Ollie Robinson. Or Root, who had to rummage around his garage to dig out his old captain's blazer.

Are England a better team in September than they were in June? It is hard to argue that a team that has lost Ben Stokes has improved, though that should take nothing away from all the good things England have done in the 3-0 series sweep of Pakistan. It is not a criticism of Stokes to say his personality dominated the England team he led. By the end of his reign, England were characterised by what Stokes said and did. Naturally, England are different under Root, a different personality to Stokes.

Until the third evening of the third Test at Edgbaston, most of those differences seemed positive. There had been a calmness about England's demeanour, perhaps because they had not been tested to that point. That calmness eroded with every swing of Razaullah's blade. Two hours of chaos frazzled England and exposed old doubts from Root's first spell as captain. The skipper himself felt it necessary to duck off the field. Stokes rarely lost control in such a fashion.

Even after such a bruising session, there were some small positives. Stand-in coach Marcus Trescothick was happy to admit his disappointment at what had transpired, a shift in tone from the Kool Aid messaging of the Bazball boys. In reality, we are ending the summer with no clear knowledge of how good this England team is, following a pattern of years gone by: the drawn Ashes in 2023, a shock defeat by Sri Lanka at The Oval at the end of 2024 and the failure to win the final Test against India last year.

And that is the ultimate frustration of England's Test performances in the four-plus years that Rob Key has been director of cricket. When the defining series have rolled around, England have not won them. In between those big challenges there have been more questions than answers. The brass ring always remains just out of reach, always searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

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For now, England have a blossoming four-man pace quartet that has drawn comparisons with the famous Ashes winners of 2005. Robinson has ruled England's summer, taking his 28 wickets at an average of 9.32; the sort of statistics in keeping with Test cricket from before World War I. With Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson bringing the pace, England have a Swiss army knife of an attack, albeit lacking a left-armer. Still, England are only one injury away from some inexperienced reserves. Sam Cook, Sonny Baker, Matthew Fisher and Henry Crocombe have four caps between them. Brydon Carse is available, though it remains to be seen if England will take him on tour while the Derby incident is still under investigation. Perhaps the in-form Olly Stone is due a recall.

The challenge for England is to find the right blend to suit the winter. The four seamers could operate in South Africa and the one-off pink-ball 150th anniversary Test in Melbourne, but the two matches in Bangladesh in February will demand a change in formation. Despite the burning summer, spin has become a redundant weapon.

The list of candidates to play in Bangladesh is long because there is no outstanding one among them. Shoaib Bashir, Jack Leach, Dom Bess, Will Jacks, James Coles, Mason Crane, Liam Patterson-White, Calvin Harrison and Jack Carson may all think they have a shout of being on the plane. The incumbent is Dan Lawrence, who has not had many opportunities to show the value of his part-time off-breaks.

Lawrence's bowling gives him an advantage when Jacob Bethell returns from a knee injury, probably leaving a choice between Jordan Cox and Emilio Gay for the first Test in South Africa in December. Both men have made three half-centuries in their first summers as Test batters. Cox is extremely highly rated by the England management, who must decide how much weight to put on Gay's skill as a specialist opener.

The top of the order has emerged as England's biggest batting concern. Ben Duckett made the only century of the summer, yet averages 23 since the beginning of the Ashes. Gay's average in his six Tests is below 25 and his frustration at his second-innings dismissal against Pakistan came out with a swish of his bat towards the stumps. His running between the wickets is jittery and he is rarely placed in an important position in the field. Of all the issues around the batting, England need Root to rediscover his best.

The captain ends the summer without a hundred for the first time since 2019 and with his lowest average in a home season since the same year. This time last year, it was full steam ahead in the pursuit of India great Sachin Tendulkar. Now, the 1,643 runs to catch the Little Master look a little further away.

The smart money will be on Root to come out of his funk, rather than this being the start of a late-career decline. Root will meet incoming coach Stephen Fleming in the coming days to plot the route forward. Along with Key - the great survivor of England's chaotic summer - the trio will look for a way to win the marquee series, to claim the major prizes on offer in the months ahead: in South Africa this winter, the Ashes next summer, in India in early 2028.

And this is where England find themselves yet again, with judgement reserved until biggest challenges. Still grasping for the brass ring, still chasing the pot of gold.

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