England's New Pace Pack: Skill and Speed for the Future
The scoreline says Pakistan were bundled out for 109 on day two at Lord’s. The story runs deeper than that.
Strip away the caveats first. Pakistan’s batting has looked fragile all summer. The ball has nipped, seamed and bounced on obliging English pitches. Any verdict on this England attack needs that context stamped on it.
But you can only bowl at what’s in front of you. And this four-man pace unit of Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson looks like something England have been searching for without quite knowing it.
Ben Stokes’ retirement forced England’s hand. It may yet prove a turning point.
Root’s New Arsenal
After the first-Test win at Headingley, Joe Root did not bother with understatement. His quicks, he said, “do not know how good they can be” and he lingered on the word that has haunted England attacks in the past: variety.
In his previous spell as captain, Root often turned to a familiar battery of right-arm seam – James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Stokes. Outstanding bowlers, but often operating on similar lines and lengths, asking similar questions.
This time it feels different.
The contrast hits you in the speed gun alone. At Lord’s, Archer thundered in at up to 95mph in the quickest opening spell of his career. From the Pavilion End, Robinson ambled in at around 78mph, almost 20mph slower, yet just as menacing in his own way.
Across the series, Tongue’s average pace actually tops Archer’s, even if Archer has sent down a higher percentage of deliveries over 90mph. Atkinson slots just under those two in raw speed, a shade less explosive but still brisk enough to trouble anyone.
Archer, sharing the burden in this new-look pack, even joked he could play until he is 40 with this sort of support. That quip captured the mood: a group that feels balanced, not over-reliant on one spearhead.
“It is a good attack,” said former captain Michael Vaughan. “They can all get better and that is a really good sign.”
Vaughan did not gloss over Pakistan’s struggles. “This batting line-up is possibly the easiest I have seen to bowl to,” he added, but stressed that bowling of this quality will not be flattered only by fragile opponents. “This attack, bowling the way they are doing, will challenge better batting line-ups. They will challenge the Australia line-up quite nicely if they bowl like this.”
Robinson the Metronome
If Archer brings the crackle of raw pace, Robinson brings the slow suffocation.
He has never been about speed. What he has done this summer is strip his game down to its sharpest edge: control. Four more wickets on Friday lifted him to 17 for the season at an absurd average of 8.84 across three Tests.
Lively pitches have helped, but Robinson has exploited them with ruthless precision. Against Pakistan he has hit a good length with 70% of his deliveries. No one else in the attack comes close; Atkinson sits next at 52%.
The result? Pakistan’s batters have spent long stretches pinned in their crease, prodded and probed, starved of release. On Friday, Robinson sent down 31 balls in a row without conceding a run. His 13 overs cost just 11 runs – the most economical figures by a pace bowler delivering 10 or more overs in England for 13 years.
“Ollie Robinson is an extraordinarily skillful bowler,” Vaughan said. England’s coaches want a touch more speed from him, pushing him consistently towards 81mph. Get that, and his method looks portable to any surface, any opposition.
“He has been the tone-setter we were crying out for in the winter,” Vaughan added. England have long needed that kind of new-ball miser. They may finally have one.
Angles, Stumps and Match-Ups
What gives this quartet real bite is not just what they do individually, but how their strengths mesh.
Archer’s natural angle makes him a nightmare for left-handers. He averages 23.9 against southpaws, compared with 31.3 against right-handers. With Australia’s left-handers looming on the horizon, that split matters.
Tongue and Atkinson flip that script. Tongue averages 21.5 against right-handers but 35.7 against left-handers. Atkinson’s record reads 19.9 versus right-handers, 31.7 against left-handers. Between them, the match-ups almost cover themselves.
Tongue brings something else: a direct, stump-hunting threat that England have often lacked. His position on the crease drags the ball into the pads and timber. Across this series, 22% of his deliveries would have hit the stumps. At Headingley, where he took eight wickets in the first Test, that figure rose to 29% – the highest by an England bowler in a home Test for 15 years.
That intent shows in his strike-rate. After two more wickets on Friday, Tongue now takes a wicket every 39.8 balls. That places him 12th on the all-time list of bowlers to have reached 30 Test wickets.
“Tongue is the one who is really developing the best of them,” observed Jonathan Agnew. The numbers back him up.
Atkinson, sitting just under the top speeds of Archer and Tongue, adds yet another dimension: brisk, attacking spells that keep batters honest when the ball softens. He may not yet have the headline figures, but his presence means no respite. There is no “fifth bowler” to target.
Eyes on the Ashes
Strip away the noise, and the picture is clear. England have stumbled, almost by necessity, onto a pace attack with variety, complementary skills and room to grow.
Yes, Pakistan’s batting has helped them look good. Yes, these are friendly home conditions. But the habits they are forming – the discipline of Robinson, the hostility of Archer, the stump-busting lines of Tongue, the supporting fire of Atkinson – are the kind that survive tougher tests.
A home Ashes series is less than a year away. For once, England’s pace attack does not look like a problem to solve. It looks like a weapon to unleash.
