England's 3-0 Pakistan Sweep Creates Rare Test Cricket History After 138 Years

Test cricket is a sport that revolves around milestones. In a game where centuries are celebrated with a bat, a tap on the helmet and a round of applause from the Pavilion members, one would have thought there were plenty of them. However, England managed not to score a single century in the three-match series against Pakistan, even as they comfortably won 3-0.

It was a resilient and determined series for the home side, but it only managed to equal the eighth three-match Test series that had no centuries at all in it. On top of this, it took 138 years before another three-match series between two teams in England would have no hundreds.

Instead of centuries, there were narrow escapes and a few days of gruelling bowling that saw a long-standing record broken and forgotten.

The figures show batters repeatedly leaping over a hundred, only for their hearts to sink as they fail to clear the fence. Time and again, the fifties and nineties stacked up, with no three-figure score to be found.

For Pakistan, it was Saud Shakeel who had the agony of reaching within touching distance of three figures, only to be dismissed agonisingly for a 97 at Lord's. Captain Shan Masood followed in spectacular style, scoring a defiant 95 in Birmingham.

Even with a run-chase of lower totals, Pakistan showed flashes of brilliance, none more so than when Razaullah lit up Birmingham with an almighty 81 from 63 balls, a counter-attacking innings of nine sixes that still fell short of the target. Babar Azam chipped in with a solid 76 in the same ground, but the Pakistan batting line-up continually stumbled when faced with the prospect of crossing the century line.

Their opponents, England, were no different as far as near-misses went. Harry Brook was the series' most prolific nearly-man, anchoring the hosts' innings with a stylish 91 at Headingley in the second Test, and a swift 75 later in the series. When the turn of the final Test came around, and a merely modest chase of 130 was on the cards, Joe Root guided the visitors to an unbeaten 62, while Jordan Cox played a fluent, unbeaten 59 to clinch the eight-wicket win for the hosts and a whitewash for England.

Although the batters were busy trading blows without managing to cash in for a hundred, the England bowling attack had taken a stranglehold of the opposition. The pattern for the entire summer was well and truly set out from the off in the inaugural Test at Leeds, in which England routed Pakistan by an innings and 103.

At the vanguard of England's success was Ollie Robinson, who delivered a masterclass with the ball, sending out a bevvy of opposition line-ups to the floor from beginning to end. Robinson concluded the series on a high, with an astonishing 21 wickets, with his probing lines and the ability to extract movement from English surfaces keeping the Pakistani batters well and truly on the mat, rendering them incapable of scoring three figures.

This 3-0 whitewash represents England's second-ever Test series win over Pakistan, repeating their success in the 2022-23 series. It also heralds the dawn of a new era for the Three Lions, as Joe Root takes over the captaincy after Ben Stokes retire from international cricket.

When the summer was done and dusted, the record books had been well and truly shaken up. England had achieved the clean sweep, Pakistan had battled valiantly through the series of single-digit margins from victory, and the sport had been reminded that history is not just made up of hundreds, but also the 138-year drought in between.