England may have levelled the contest at 1-1 with their crushing success at Old Trafford, but are they that superior to the tourists that they can now go on to clinch series over the course of the fixtures at Edgbaston and the Oval?
The top order batting looks ever more dependant on the skipper Alastair Cook, and Joe Root now promoted to No.3 None of Alex Hales, James Vince or Gary Ballance has looked a convincing Test player, and with the 21 year old Northamptonshire batsman Ben Duckett posting an astonishing sequence of scores for the Lions, at least one of them is likely to find himself missing out at the Oval, should they fail once more in the third Test.
Against the less threatening Sri Lanka attack, Hales passed 80 in all three Tests, but his scores against the swinging ball presented by Pakistan have been just six, 16, ten and 24.
Vince has now played five Tests, and is yet to post a half-century, and has proved far too susceptible to the ball that entices him to drive outside the off stump.
Whilst Balance certainly has the patience to play long innings in test cricket, his technique sees him stuck too far back in his crease, and like Hales, this is making him a victim of the swinging ball.
Although the Edgbaston pitch is likely to be seamer friendly, Edgbaston has proven a happy hunting ground in recent years for Warwickshire’s overseas player, Jeetan Patel. The off-spinner from New Zealand, has claimed 142 first class victims at the venue, at an average of 26 runs each. If the pitch does offer encouragement to the slower bowlers, then Pakistan most definitely have the upper hand in Yasir Shah.