England surrendered their world-beating pretensions to Pakistan in a 10-wicket defeat well inside four days at The Oval.
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Pakistan won the first test at Lord’s by 75 runs before England came back hard with a 330-run victory at Old Trafford and a 141-run win at Birmingham.
England was dismissed for 253 in its second innings on Sunday’s fourth day.
Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam knocked off a paltry target of 40 on day four to deny England a series win.
Pakistan have not played a Test series on home soil since an armed attack on Sri Lanka´s team bus in Lahore in 2009 saw six players injured, as well as the deaths of six policemen and two civilians.
Pakistan have remained in third position but could rise to number-one depending on how the Colombo Test between Sri Lanka and Australia and the fourth Test between the West Indies and India in Port-of-Spain pan out. “I’m really proud of this team and I think that, if we can be number one after all these results, then we really deserve that”, he added further.
“When the team is playing like that, you really want to play”, he told BBC’s Test Match Special. “That’s why it [the double century] was on the right time”.
Unfortunately for the selectors, England’s middle-order woes do not end with Vince; Gary Ballance also found it tough upon his return to the side, averaging below 30, but he did show enough to suggest that he is a man to be persisted with, at least for the time being.
With the four-match Test series coming to an end, the focus shifts to the limited overs format of the tour. “We made friends on and off the field”.
But Sohail Khan, a right-arm, English-style seamer, made the breakthrough on an overcast morning when his lifting ball had Ballance, carelessly flirting outside off stump, caught behind for 17.
New batsman Moeen Ali had frustrated Pakistan with a first-innings 108 and shared a partnership of 93 with Bairstow. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee, while his teammates have been fined 10 per cent of their match fee.
England won at Edgbaston, on the back of the crowd’s support, through a splendid team effort.
Left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz (2-48) then got rid of Chris Woakes (4) and Bairstow off successive deliveries – effectively ending any hope of an England fightback. Bairstow completed his second fifty of the match in 72 balls including five fours. There are a lot of tours and even our home series are in the UAE.
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England are due to announce their squad for the five-match ODI series against Pakistan starting next week on Tuesday.
