Joe Root has suggested that this year’s batch of Dukes balls could be to blame for a lower-scoring summer after England secured a 2-0 series victory with another big win over Pakistan at Lord’s.
Root’s side wrapped up a 194-run win in the second Test 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.
No batter has yet scored a century, with Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel dismissed for an excellent 97 and Jamie Smith’s first-innings 61 the highest score of the home side’s Test match.
The Lord’s 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.
The England captain instead indicated he had noticed a difference to the balls throughout 2026 – though was pleased with how his team had adjusted to challenging conditions.
“I think the balls have been very different this year,” Root said. “I think there is a different lacquer to them. I don’t have evidence on that, and probably need to ask Dukes, but I think there is a lacquer on the seam and they don’t want them to go out of shape.
““I 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.
“I know that here, they’ll be desperate to prepare the best surfaces possible, and I’m sure they are doing everything they can to provide that moving forward. Yes, it’s 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’s hard. But that is part of the challenge of Test cricket, that’s part of being able to adapt to different conditions.
“That’s one of the things you have to overcome as player. But it is also understanding what that looks like – sometimes a 30 is worth 70, and a 60 is worth 100. It’s just having the mentality of what is required to get our team in position to win a game. Throughout the two games we’ve had, we’ve managed to do that. That’s the reason why we’ve got two wins out of those games.”
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.
England’s 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.
“I’d have loved to have scored more runs, but when you are winning games, it is important to see things for what they are,” he said.
“The reason I’ve got the runs that I have and had the amount of time playing Test cricket is because I’ve been quite good at understanding and being level, and eventually problem solving. I’ll continue to keep working hard.
“I might have been out LBW a few times, but four of those have been umpire’s call, maybe even five, which if they go the other way it might not be as much of a talking point. We’ve seen the ball more than it ever has. I think there has to be a sense of calm and realism about things, and I’ll also keep working at my game and improving it.”
