Cricket News: England beat Pakistan by eight wickets on the fourth morning of their third Test
On the fourth morning, England were a little more cautious, but still needed only 11.1 overs to complete the clean sweep after a wild attempt to win the third Test in three days.
England beat PakistanWith captain Ben Stokes undefeated on 35 at the other end, Ben Duckett finished 82 not out to rank second in the series' run scorers.
Since the new era of Stokes and Brendon McCullum as captain and coach, respectively, England have won nine out of ten Test matches, a remarkable turnaround from a run of just one victory in 17 before their appointments.
When questioned about the series at the presentation, Stokes replied, "Perfect." He later added, "We've adapted really well, whether that be with bat or ball. The confidence that every individual has in themselves and the people around them is unbelievable. Every person has stood up at some point and put in some kind of match-winning performance."
"We knew what cricket means to Pakistan and we knew what it meant to Pakistan for us to be here. The support that we've had has been incredible. We felt like the cricket that was played was just being celebrated. We came here to win but we also came to play an exciting brand of cricket and get people in to watch. To walk off to a reception like we have at every ground, being the winners over the home team, was very special."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A 3-0 series whitewash!! 🦁🦁🦁<br><br>WHAT. A. TEAM.<br><br>🇵🇰 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAKvENG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PAKvENG</a> 🏴 <a href="https://t.co/wHbbq6SiyC">pic.twitter.com/wHbbq6SiyC</a></p>— England Cricket (@englandcricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1605075822427119616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The series began with Stokes muscling the third ball through midwicket while Duckett swept, reverse-swept, and paddle-swept liberally from Abrar Ahmed as he continued his comeback.
When Stokes attempted to strike his 108th six of his Test career, he was dropped short of long-on by Salman Ali Agha as he focused on the chance to surpass McCullum as the all-time leading six-hitter. He attempted to chip Abrar down the ground twice more, slog-sweeping into the deep on the leg side but was unsuccessful.
Following three hundreds in his second, third, and fourth Test matches, Harry Brook was voted Player of the Series after scoring 468 runs in five innings. Stokes declared, "He's lit Pakistan on fire."
Despite being late in being introduced by Stokes to the attack, 18-year-old Rehan Ahmed quickly destroyed Pakistan's middle and lower order, turning the match. He set up a straightforward chase by taking 5 for 48, making history as the youngest Test player to ever record a five-wicket haul on his debut.