England will aim to put their latest drinking drama behind them when they face Pakistan in the second Test at Lord’s starting on Thursday (August 27, 2026).
Meanwhile, with England having won just three of their last 11 Tests, a wary Root said: “We know the individual brilliance that lies within that team and what Pakistan are capable of collectively.
Both former captain Ben Stokes — who has since retired from all international cricket — and paceman Gus Atkinson were stood down in June from the second Test at home to New Zealand following an incident at a London bar which came after they broke a curfew policy that has now been ditched by Root. Carse did not feature at Headingley, and was unlikely to play at Lord’s barring injury, but his conduct led a frustrated Root to say Tuesday: “If I’m being brutally honest, I’m really hacked off…It’s not the isolated incident itself, it’s the fact we continuously keep making stupid mistakes away from the game and it’s detracting from what we are doing on the field. Pakistan captain Babar Azam, however, could return at Lord’s from a finger injury initially sustained during the tour of the West Indies and later exacerbated when he was hit on the hand during a warm-up game at Beckenham.
The hosts ought to be in an utterly buoyant mood after returning captain Joe Root oversaw an innings and 103-run thrashing of Pakistan inside three days at his Headingley homeground last week. But rather than speak about England’s progress, Root spent much of a pre-match press conference talking about Brydon Carse, dropped from the squad and now under investigation by the Cricket Regulator after videos on social media showed the fast bowler being led away by police in handcuffs following an incident at a Derby nightclub on Saturday (August 22, 2026).
“He had a full batting session. “If you want to win a Test match, you have to perform in all departments. One can’t be carrying the other.”
“We’re hopeful he will be available for the game and today (Tuesday) he was looking good; he batted well in the nets,” said Pakistan bowling coach Umar Gul. “We’ll have to learn from the mistakes we made in the previous game,” said Gul.