ASK NASSER: Ollie Pope’s inconsistency remains a worry…but Brydon Carse has made his case

England’s Test team have returned home from Pakistan, licking their wounds after slumping to a 2-1 defeat. 

So, is the second loss in Asia this year a serious setback for Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum as they look to develop momentum ahead of next year’s Ashes Down Under? And whose place is under pressure? 

Mail Sport columnist Nasser Hussain answers your questions…

Q: England appear to bat the same way regardless of the pitch conditions or match situation. I always thought you should play the situation. Where do you stand on that? – Alan Barnes

I still feel players should play the situation. That’s why somebody like Joe Root is an all-time great: it’s what he has done throughout his career. 

I would argue this summer, there was a bit of a reset as to the way England played. There were times they did soak up pressure. They got things spot on. In the first Test at Multan, they got it spot on, too.

Also, everyone focuses on the batting. The fact is Pakistan’s spinners out-bowled our spinners. That’s just as much of an issue.

Q: Is it time to ask questions about Ollie Pope’s future at No 3? What other changes could be made to the order? Could Jamie Smith and Ben Stokes swap positions to allow Stokes to be more aggressive with the tail? – Liam Bond

Positions in the England team can’t be a job for life. You have to ask questions constantly. Your currency is runs, and Pope is inconsistent. A barren spell is followed by a magnificent hundred.

I don’t think they will make the change, though, because they’ve invested a lot in him and made him vice-captain. But he needs a good tour of New Zealand.

As for Stokes moving? I wouldn’t mind him coming in at No 3 if he is not going to bowl much. I’d like to see him give himself some more responsibility — but only if he wants to do that. 

He has the captaincy and a workload with the ball to consider. If he’s bowling a lot, then it would be asking a lot of him to bat higher.

Q: What about Zak Crawley? Is there a case to select Keaton Jennings, a great player of spin, as a specialist for these tours? – George Harding

The Jennings question is a really good one. The bowling department always seems very horses for courses — we leave seamers out that would play at home — but the batters remain the same.

Yet in those conditions, you would argue that Jennings is a better player of spin. One of the problems, I guess, is that if someone like Jennings came in and got a hundred, would you drop them for New Zealand next month?

Q: What positives can England take away from this series? It looks like they’ve unearthed a real gem in Brydon Carse… – Jane Childs

I observe players’ body language from the commentary box. If they’re a fast bowler, are they up for every first ball of the day? And are they up for the last? Carse is always a yes to both.

Against Pakistan, he just kept coming. Even when he had two catches dropped off his bowling in an over, he kept composed. It was very impressive. Carse and Matthew Potts did themselves a load of good and I was very impressed with Smith, too.

Q: Pakistan’s spinners stole the show to win them the series whereas Shoaib Bashir and Jack Leach struggled to have the same impact. Where are we at with them as Test bowlers? – Sheila Noble

We saw the potential of Bashir and Rehan Ahmed before lunch on day two of the third Test. They bowled really nicely. But you can’t compare those two to Noman Ali and Sajid Khan, two bowlers who are extremely experienced in their own conditions.

Leach is still pretty much bowling the way he was when he came into the side six years ago, but their approach represented a stark difference with their changes of pace. They would drop four or five miles an hour to catch opponents out. England’s spinners can learn a lot from their control of pace, line and length.

Q: I was astonished when Pakistan defeated England in the last two matches of the series. After England won the first Test so comprehensively, nobody would have expected Pakistan to bounce back like this… – Fatma BibI

Listen, it’s not time to be overly critical. Yes, England have lost their last two matches, but before the defeat in Multan their record was six wins and one loss stretching back to the start of the summer. 

This England side are still very good, very watchable, it is just that they have got to learn the art of batting against spin and the art of bowling spin.

There was always going to be a discrepancy between their first performance and what followed because when conditions changed they were never going to score 800 again. 

They just need to get their performances closer together, so that there isn’t such a big gap between the cricket they are excellent at — putting on 50 partnerships for the first wicket at home in 4.2 overs — and the cricket they need to work on, like when the ball is spinning in Asia.

Great players play well in all conditions. That’s the challenge.