Pakistan captain says England changed world cricket with the way they won in 2022 | England cricket team

Asked whether the way England played and won on their last visit to Pakistan in 2022 had a lasting impact, Shan Masood didn't hesitate: it had an effect on the world.

That series is considered England's greatest achievement to date. They found a way to win 3-0 on flat pitches and in unfamiliar conditions, becoming the first, second and third teams ever to score 250 or more runs at over 5.30 an over against Pakistan. They peaked at 7.36 in the second innings of the first Test, a figure unparalleled in the history of cricket, until India rattled off 285 at 8.22 against Bangladesh last month.

The way Ben [Stokes] The leadership in that series was phenomenal, said Ollie Pope, who will captain England for the opening Test in Multan, which starts in the early hours of Monday morning. He took a big risk in that first Test, which paid off, and the nature of the pitch dictated that if a result was to come, such a play had to be made.

Pakistan is belatedly trying to adopt key parts of that team's approach. We always play our best cricket when we don't care too much about the result and we play an exciting brand of cricket when it is fearless, taking the game to the opponent, said Masood, their captain. The best thing England has done is realize that there are other perspectives and things that suit you. The key is to find new ways of doing things. That's how the world has always progressed and cricket is no different. You try to evolve and create new ways and England has been a pioneer in that.

This year England have talked about refining their style, but on Sunday Brendon McCullum insisted this was a misunderstanding. When I talked about refinement, I was talking about some of the personnel in our group, said the England head coach. It wasn't about the approach. The approach has never changed.

England are aware that the path to success in this series could look very different to the one they took in 2022. The key to the tactics a few years ago was identifying that you needed enough time to get 20 wickets in each Test, so we needed to force the run rate, said McCullum. Just watch what unfolds in the coming weeks. If that's the tactic we need, we'll go for it. If things aren't going well, hopefully be smart enough to adapt [tactics] and go all the way into it.

An important difference between the last visit to England and this visit is that it took place in December. Two months earlier, conditions were, in McCullum's words, a little more extreme…for starters, it's sweltering. I think we just have to be pretty flexible with our plans and adapt as quickly as possible. That's how the game rolls, right?

McCullum praised Stokes' ultimately futile attempts to get himself fit for the start of this series. I've never seen a professional athlete train so hard. I think most people would not have been there and defended the decision of his fast bowling coach, Jimmy Anderson, to miss the first six days of the tour to play a pro-am golf tournament. He has been in regular contact with the boys and it is an incredible sign that two months after taking on the role, everyone misses him desperately, he said of Anderson, who arrives on Tuesday. Jimmys is allowed to live his life, like everyone else. We have always been about making sure people can enjoy themselves, enjoy their family life, their hobbies and have fun. I don't think it's a big problem.

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Pakistan have some serious problems of their own: they have lost all five Tests they have played in the past year, their first under Masoods' captaincy, a 3-0 defeat in Australia and, even more painfully, 2-0 at home to Bangladesh . We kept getting into winning positions but the game was slipping out of our hands, Masood said. These are things we have to learn from. The challenge is to make sure we finish the matches. There is a lot of pain among the players. 2024 has not been a good year for Pakistani cricket and we like to see our fans happy. We are injured. The answer is positive. We have let go of the past.