Pakistan’s tour of the UK has unravelled into a grim sequence of setbacks, with alarming displays on the field compounded by extraordinary drama away from it.
Babar Azam’s side now look to be sliding towards a 3-0 series defeat, having offered little resistance against an England team that arrived short on belief after 18 months without a win in a multi-match series and searching for fresh direction under Joe Root following Ben Stokes’ retirement.
So where does this troubled campaign sit among the most dismal tours of England over the last half-century?
Here Daily Mail Sport counts down the five worst…
5th: Pakistan, 1978
Series result: England win 2-0
Pakistan, captained by Wasim Bari, were heavily beaten in the two 55-over fixtures that came before the three-Test series, setting the tone for a tour in which they were repeatedly undone by the rising force of Ian Botham.
At Lord’s, Botham produced a performance for the ages, becoming the only player in Test history to score a century and claim an eight-wicket haul in the same match.
Pakistan had two of the three leading scorers in the series in Sadiq Mohammad and Mohsin Khan, but a distinct lack of depth to their travelling party diluted any competitive edge they might have boasted.
The Pakistanis produced an average score of 169, losing the first two Tests by an innings. The highest average among their other top-six players was in the teens. Without Imran Khan, the bowling lacked venom.
Ian Botham (right) was at his explosive best against Pakistan in 1978, dismantling a side captained by Wasim Bari (left)
4th: India, 2011
Series result: England win 4-0
The presence of icons like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni made the chasm between India’s team of 15 years ago and England all the more galling for their passionate fanbase.
Dravid struck three hundreds across the four matches, but all ended in defeat – two by an innings and the other two by margins of 196 and 319 runs.
The bowling offered nothing once Zaheer Khan limped out early, contributing to Dhoni whipping off his pads off to bowl at Lord’s, and Zaheer’s fellow left armer RP Singh being lured from a beach holiday in Florida.
All told they accounted for just 47 of the 80 available England wickets. During two months here, they also lost the one-off Twenty20 international and left winless, following a 3-0 scoreline in the one-dayers.
The great Sachin Tendulkar (pictured) was one of a number of star names in India’s team in 2011 – but it didn’t stop them getting hammered by England
3rd: Australia, 1985
Series result: England win 3-1
It was the same series result as four years previously, only this 3-1 England win lacked the high quality drama of its Botham-fronted predecessor.
The Australians under Allan Border were in a huge state of flux, although they did not have to contend with the selection restrictions placed upon their 1975 counterparts due to World Series Cricket.
Bob Holland and Murray Bennett were chosen to bowl spin while 20-year-old newbie Craig McDermott was in a seam-bowling cartel including an over-the-hill Jeff Thomson, who turned 35 in the mauling at Edgbaston in the fifth Test of six.
Australia had been level at 1-1 thanks to the heroics of Border, their one world-class talent, at Lord’s, but from the third Test onwards it felt like holding back the dam.
England were hardly a vintage outfit themselves during the 1980s, but innings wins for David Gower’s men in the fifth and sixth matches emphasised what a summer of home dominance it had been.
Allan Border is bowled by Richard Ellison (top right) during the fifth Test of the 1985 Ashes. His side lost comfortably to an England team that were hardly a vintage outfit themselves
2nd: Bangladesh, 2005
Series result: England win 2-0
Michael Vaughan’s England flexed their muscles for the historic Ashes victory later that summer by toying with a team that had only been playing Test cricket for five years.
Conceding runs at 5.13 runs per over and unable to bat for more than 40 overs until the final innings of the two-match series, it was a privilege of which they didn’t look worthy.
England bowled woefully by their own admission at Lord’s, yet were abetted by some questionable shot selections from the Bangladeshis. Such was the gulf in quality between the teams, in fact, that Vaughan declared at lunch on day two at Chester-le-Street, just three wickets down.
Both Tests concluded on their third mornings. The only solace for the tourists came in Cardiff with a triangular tournament win for the ages against Australia.
Steve Harmison celebrates dismissing Bangladesh’s Nafis Iqbal in the first Test as Lord’s
1st: Pakistan, 2026
Series result: England winning 2-0 midway through third Test
From the removal of Test coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and the unprecedented sacking of seven players two-thirds of the way into the series, to the resignation of Misbah-ul-Haq as a selector and an investigation into conduct within the squad, there hasn’t been a dull moment.
Amid the chaos came a tongue in cheek observation that the call-ups of Mohammad Imran Randhawa, 29, and Mohammad Imran Jr, 25, had come about because they didn’t know which one to pick.
The latter had only made eight first-class appearances in five years as a professional cricketer, making him in customary Pakistani cricket logic, the obvious favourite.
Babar Azam’s team appear appear to be careering to a 3-0 whitewash after barely laying a glove on an England side that came into this series devoid of confidence
The bowling has thus far bared more teeth in Birmingham, via the inclusion of the slingy Razaullah, but the batsmen are on course to pack an ignominious record with them when they depart.
Since the World Wars, no team has finished a Test campaign here without having reached 200 at least once – Pakistan have so far made 171, 135, 110, 194 and 133.
Only one opportunity for remedy remains.
