Root and Cox Lead England to Series Victory

England flirted with disaster, then strolled to victory.

Chasing just 130 at Edgbaston to wrap up a 3-0 series win over Pakistan, the hosts somehow contrived to turn a routine morning into a minor crisis. Two balls, two wickets, and suddenly a modest target looked laced with jeopardy.

Ben Duckett lasted one delivery. Mohammad Abbas found just enough movement, Duckett found the edge, and the wicketkeeper did the rest. The very first ball of the day, gone.

The noise had barely settled when it rose again. Emilio Gay, pinned in front by Abbas in the same over, trudged off as the umpire’s finger went up. England 2 for 2. The crowd stunned. Pakistan, improbably, alive.

This was the window they had been chasing since the third evening, when debutant Razaullah had launched an unlikely fightback with the bat. Now, with the new ball talking and the target suddenly feeling a lot larger than it looked on the scoreboard, the visitors sensed a famous heist.

They could not take it.

Razaullah, so assured with the bat, sprayed it with the ball. England, though rattled, were allowed just enough breathing space to regroup. Pakistan moved quickly, turning to Mohammad Ali in search of control and incision.

He almost delivered the moment of the match.

Ali went full at Joe Root, who was still on nought, and ripped out his off stump. Or so he thought. As Pakistan celebrated what looked like the decisive strike, the umpire checked the front foot. Ali had overstepped. No ball. Root recalled.

The punishment was instant and ruthless. Root drove the very next legal delivery to the boundary, a statement as much as a shot. In the following over, Jordan Cox joined in, collecting his own four and settling into rhythm.

Pakistan’s chance had flickered. It was about to be snuffed out.

Abbas did create one more opening, drawing a thick outside edge from Root. It flew between first and second slip, neither fielder committing, both watching as the ball bisected them. A genuine chance, untouched. In that moment, the contest shifted decisively.

From there, Root and Cox played like men who knew the game was theirs to control. The target, never imposing, now felt tiny. With the early storm survived, England stopped surviving and started scoring.

Root, all soft hands and precise placement, began to unfurl his full range. Clips through midwicket, punches through cover, late dabs that turned good balls into runs. Cox, more direct, made sure Pakistan never settled into a length, driving confidently and picking off anything loose.

The scoreboard pressure that had briefly spooked England vanished. Singles came easily, boundaries arrived often enough, and the field began to spread. Pakistan’s bowlers, so threatening in that chaotic first over, lost their bite as the partnership swelled.

Root moved to fifty with another crisp boundary, a landmark that carried extra weight. In reaching his half-century, he broke the record for the most fifties in Test cricket, another entry in a career already stacked with milestones. It felt fitting that he did it in a rescue act, steering England away from the brink with the calm authority that has defined his tenure at the crease.

At the other end, Cox seized his moment. Given a proper opportunity in the middle order, he looked entirely at home, bringing up his own fifty as England closed in. No fuss, no theatrics, just solid, assured batting under pressure.

By the stroke of lunch, it was over. The early panic had been replaced by a sense of inevitability as Root and Cox walked off unbeaten, having shared an unbroken century stand to seal an eight-wicket win and a clean sweep of the series.

Pakistan will replay those few minutes in their minds: the no-ball that bowled Root, the slip cordon frozen as the edge flew between them, the looseness from Razaullah just when control was needed. The door was open. They could not walk through it.

England, though, will remember something else: a morning that briefly threatened to unravel, rescued by their most reliable modern great and a partner keen to write his own story.