England vs Pakistan: Five Talking Points from the Test series

#3 – Not finding the middle ground

Vince looked completely out of depth at Test level

Probably, the difference between England drawing and winning the series was a lack of output from their middle-order. Having promoted Root to number three, the hosts needed those below him to stand up and make themselves counted.

However, James Vince and Gary Ballance could contribute only 353 runs with one fifty-plus score between them. Even though Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali tried their best to put on the rescue act, it did not come off every time.

In the end, an irate Cook lamented, “The lower order have got us out of trouble some of the time and it's great that we've got strength in depth down there. But the majority of the time they should be putting the icing on the cake, not making the cake.”

With a 5-Test tour to India scheduled in November, time is running out fast for England to solve their middle-order issues before the spin troika of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra catch wind of it.