Is Ben Stokes OK? Is Ollie Pope up to it? Have we seen the last of Jack Leach? Five questions for England after Test thrashing by Pakistan

England’s problems against spin were exposed by Pakistan in emphatic fashion in the third Test in Rawalpindi.

Brendon McCullum’s tourists were all out for 267 in their first innings before being skittled out for just 112 in their second.

Pakistan eventually won by nine wickets to wrap up the series and leave England with a lot of questions to answer.

Mail Sport’s LAWRENCE BOOTH watched the action closely in Rawalpindi.

He has some questions of his own, which he has listed below.

1. Is Ben Stokes OK?

England’s captain has never looked less imposing than he did during the last two Tests, having missed the first through injury.

He scored 53 runs at 13, bowled 10 wicketless overs and lacked his usual verve and insight in the field.

He must unscramble it quickly in New Zealand.

Ben Stokes will be disappointed with his batting, bowling and fielding in the last two matches

2. Is Ollie Pope up to it?

Stokes’s insistence that his team still boasted ‘the best top-six batsmen in England’ is being severely tested by Ollie Pope who averaged 11 against Pakistan.

Joe Root has become a de facto No 3 and if Pope fails in New Zealand, it’s hard to see how England can justify picking him in 2025.

Ollie Pope averaged just 11 in Pakistan and he will have to perform much better in New Zealand

3. Have we seen the last of Jack Leach?

England next play a Test series in Asia in 2027, by which time Leach will be 35.

His best hope of adding to his 39 caps in the meantime will be if Shoaib Bashir is injured or loses form.

Leach outbowled his Somerset colleague in Pakistan, taking 16 wickets at 31 to Bashir’s nine at almost 50.

But England seem wedded to Bashir, with Stokes even claiming it was a good thing that his young off-spinner was learning on the job.

It remains to be seen whether or not Jack Leach has played his final Test match for England

4. Have they become flat-track bullies?

This series has done little to silence the critics who remained stubbornly unimpressed even after England made 823 for seven at 5.5 an over in the first Test at Multan.

And subsequent events did not dilute their scepticism.

Faced with high-class spin on turning pitches, England’s batsmen were as clueless as they have ever been.

England captain Stokes pictured looking at the pitch ahead of the recent match in Rawalpindi

5. Should we be worried about Zak Crawley?

Four successive dismissals by Noman exposed the gap between Crawley’s handling of spin and his opening partner Ben Duckett’s excellence. But Crawley’s forte has always been against the faster bowlers, and he will face plenty of that in 10 Tests next year.