{"id":755301,"date":"2026-08-31T06:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T06:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/755301\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T06:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T06:04:15","slug":"joe-root-explains-why-balls-could-be-to-blame-for-low-scoring-summer-after-england-beat-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/755301\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Root explains why balls could be to blame for low-scoring summer after England beat Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Joe Root<\/a> has suggested that this year\u2019s batch of Dukes balls could be to blame for a lower-scoring summer after England<\/a> secured a 2-0 series victory with another big win over Pakistan<\/a> at Lord\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Root\u2019s side wrapped up a 194-run win in the second Test<\/a> to seal success with a game to spare, with the tourists yet to muster a total of more than 400 in four attempts in the series.<\/p>\n

No batter has yet scored a century, with Pakistan\u2019s Saud Shakeel dismissed for an excellent 97 and Jamie Smith\u2019s first-innings 61 the highest score of the home side\u2019s Test match.<\/p>\n

The Lord\u2019s pitch came under heavy scrutiny after a low-scoring shootout between England and New Zealand earlier in the summer, but Root believes the batting struggles may not entirely down to the surfaces.<\/p>\n

\"BattingBatting has been tricky during the 2026 English summer (Getty)<\/p>\n

The England captain instead indicated he had noticed a difference to the balls throughout 2026 \u2013 though was pleased with how his team had adjusted to challenging conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the balls have been very different this year,\u201d Root said. \u201cI think there is a different lacquer to them. I don\u2019t have evidence on that, and probably need to ask Dukes, but I think there is a lacquer on the seam and they don\u2019t want them to go out of shape. <\/p>\n

\u201c\u201cI think they are affecting the wickets as well. I think they are dinting them. As a batter, when you practice, they are cracking your bats more frequently, and they seem a lot firmer. If they are dinting the wickets, then it is going to seam off the dint as well, and they are going to move more. I think there is an element of that as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that here, they\u2019ll be desperate to prepare the best surfaces possible, and I\u2019m sure they are doing everything they can to provide that moving forward. Yes, it\u2019s been challenging. Sometimes you do come across summers where it is the perfect storm. You get overcast conditions, you get a bit of rain to contend with, the balls are slightly different, and it\u2019s hard. But that is part of the challenge of Test cricket, that\u2019s part of being able to adapt to different conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things you have to overcome as player. But it is also understanding what that looks like \u2013 sometimes a 30 is worth 70, and a 60 is worth 100. It\u2019s just having the mentality of what is required to get our team in position to win a game. Throughout the two games we\u2019ve had, we\u2019ve managed to do that. That\u2019s the reason why we\u2019ve got two wins out of those games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Root has endured a relatively lean summer himself, with the second highest run-scorer in Test history yet to hit a century and averaging 29.44.<\/a><\/p>\n

England\u2019s reinstalled skipper has been dismissed LBW in nine of his last 12 innings, but is confident he will find a solution to his relative woes.<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Root has been out LBW repeatedly of late (Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d have loved to have scored more runs, but when you are winning games, it is important to see things for what they are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I\u2019ve got the runs that I have and had the amount of time playing Test cricket is because I\u2019ve been quite good at understanding and being level, and eventually problem solving. I\u2019ll continue to keep working hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might have been out LBW a few times, but four of those have been umpire\u2019s call, maybe even five, which if they go the other way it might not be as much of a talking point. We\u2019ve seen the ball more than it ever has. I think there has to be a sense of calm and realism about things, and I\u2019ll also keep working at my game and improving it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-755301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}