<\/p>\n
A<\/span>s Joe Root calmly ran the rule over the Test summer and reeled off the ways in which it had been \u201cchaos\u201d, \u201cunusual\u201d and \u201cunsettling\u201d for England, it felt telling that first among them was Ben Stokes calling time on his international career<\/a> during a match and a series that were both still live at the time.<\/p>\n Cricketers announcing their retirement mid-game is nothing new. Heather Knight went on to do the same<\/a> during the women\u2019s Test at Lord\u2019s two weeks later. Root is also too loyal to Stokes to question openly whether that scene-stealing exit before New\u00a0Zealand\u2019s win at Trent\u00a0Bridge\u00a0was entirely in keeping with his call for \u201cselfless cricketers\u201d four years earlier.<\/p>\n But even with two drink-related incidents either side, it was the week when England bottomed out: their first home defeat for 14 years in a series of three or more Tests, and one that\u00a0had the Black Caps quite literally laughing in their faces during the final throes.<\/p>\n Since becoming unhooked from the emotions of Stokes, and\u00a0realising they would never shake the stigma of Bazball without Brendon McCullum\u2019s removal as Test head coach, things have settled down a touch for England (the sight of Brydon\u00a0Carse in handcuffs in Derby, Stokes lurking in the shadows, notwithstanding).<\/p>\n They also got a taste of how New Zealand felt in June, or Australia during the Ashes last winter, claiming the win<\/a> but seeing the losers hog much of the focus. For all that the 21\u2011year\u2011old Razaullah<\/a> deserved the headlines at Edgbaston, with his jaw-dropping 81 in keeping with south Birmingham\u2019s love for unexpected fireworks, Pakistan were a reminder that there are different levels of dysfunction.<\/p>\n Scraps with Saracens players? A curfew that may or may not have been spelled out correctly? I\u2019ll raise you seven players sent home<\/a>, a head coach and bowling coach likewise, mobile phones seized, and a light shone on a government-run board that would sooner no one thought about the plight of the country\u2019s greatest captain. As Saj Sadiq, the editor of PakPassion.net<\/a> and someone who has seen it all over the years, neatly put it: \u201cAs an entire series, this has been the most embarrassing and difficult to watch. On and off the field Pakistan have been an absolute shambles.\u201d<\/p>\n