Jordan Cox impresses Michael Vaughan with 'proper player' display at Headingley

Jordan Cox scored 73 off 100 deliveries on August 20, 2026, the rain-shortened second day of the first Test between England and Pakistan at Headingley, striking 14 boundaries in a composed display that put England on 366 for eight with a 195-run lead over Pakistan.

Cox batted at number three in only his second Test appearance, filling in for the injured Jacob Bethell. His knock was part of a collective effort across England's top order, with four of the top six passing fifty. Harry Brook made 91 off 93 balls, newly-appointed skipper Joe Root contributed 66, Dan Lawrence added 51, and Cox chipped in with his 73. Former England captain Michael Vaughan named Cox his player of the day, likening him to South African batting stalwart AB de Villiers for the ease with which he went about his innings.

"Jordan Cox was my pick of the day. He just looked a player. He looks like he’s got all the time and he played two or three shots today that reminded me of AB de Villiers. Those punches through the covers – and they’re decent balls he’s hitting one or two clips through midwicket, he’s a proper player," Vaughan said, speaking on BBC's Test Match Special

Why does Cox's innings carry extra significance?

Cox's route to this innings involved a series of setbacks. A thumb injury sustained during a training session in December 2024 cost him what would have been his first Test cap, and Bethell subsequently moved ahead of him in England's selection order. The opportunity at Headingley arrived only because Bethell was unavailable through injury, lending the knock an added layer of meaning. Cox made the most of the opportunity, but rued not being able to convert it into a century.

"I think I let myself down a tiny bit but at the end of the day you take 70-odd don’t you? I’d have taken it at the start of the Test match. But it’s about trying to put put your foot through that door as much as possible and bang it down. Once I got to 50 I moved to 60 quite quickly and I was thinking ‘there’s a chance here if can keep being disciplined, keep going ball by ball’. “I definitely had it back of my mind, saying ‘you’ve worked so hard, don’t give this opportunity up’. That’s exactly what I do in county cricket – basically look at the runs I need to score and work down from there," Cox said, speaking after the match, as quoted by The Independent.

What did England's batting unit make of the day's work?

England's top order produced four half-centuries across the day, yet none of the batters went on to convert a fifty into a hundred. That collective shortfall was acknowledged within the dressing room, with a sense that the day, while productive, left room for more.

"Every team and every player wants to score Test hundreds and there’s four of us who got 50s today, so one of us could probably have kicked on. Instead of making just a hundred, let’s make it 150, 160, 170 and that puts us in a better position, definitely. “I’m not (happy) quite yet! Hopefully we can get another 50 then we’ll get to our work with the ball," Cox added, via the aforementioned source.