Records fall in Pakistan as Brooks 317 helps England narrow victory in first Test | Pakistan vs England 2024

Where should I start? With Harry Brooks' innings of 317, England's first triple century in 34 years? With Joe Root reduced to a limping wreck at the end of Wednesday but adding 86 runs again the following day, he surpassed his total of 262 only four times in the 147-year history of England's tourists (including once within five minutes of his) . dismissal)? With England's greatest ever partnership, worth a gigantic 454 and just 522 deliveries? Or Pakistan, who made a leisurely 556 first innings runs and still found themselves in a desperate battle to avoid defeat with a day to go?

England eventually scored 823 for seven, the fourth-highest margin in Test history, with a lead of 267. Their task then was to see whether Pakistan's recent history of third-innings failure would annoy them so much that they would forget how boring and lifeless this place was War. Less than 25 overs later the home side were 82 for 6, although they recovered to 152 at stumps and were still 115 behind.

This surface may be every batsman's dream, but England have played on many of them recently and have never achieved anything like it. Brook and Root have produced a partnership of gargantuan, awe-inspiring proportions, a feat that should lead to the MCC Museum clearing some space on its shelves, an honors committee calling an emergency meeting and the sports personality of the year jury making a shortlist of two and someone scurrying to Mount Rushmore, the players' portraits and an oversized chisel in hand.

England could hardly have hurried any more – after all, only one of the 150 overs they faced was a maiden. They averaged 5.48 per over, a rate bettered only twice in the 3,861 Test innings lasting 100 overs or more – a table that includes this England side with Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes in the Changing room is now in first place. No. 2 and No. 3.

Pakistan had only occasional chances to contain the carnage. The day was just in the third over when Root moved to mid-wicket and the ball flew quickly but accurately to Babar Azam, who couldn't hold it. Any determination Pakistan showed on the field, any fleeting hint of optimism, vanished with that ball and was ground to dust as Root blasted the next through the cover for four. At the time of his pardon, he was at just 186 degrees. From then on, he and Brook continued their relentless accumulation of runs and records.

When the day began, the partnership stood at 379, already the 25th highest in Test history and the fifth highest in England. Gradually they lived up to them, surpassing the best performances of the game's greats: Jack Hobbs, David Gower, Len Hutton and Bill Edrich; Javed Miandad, Garfield Sobers and finally Don Bradman ended up in fourth place. In a sport where few records last long, England's highest partnership, the 411 run shared by Colin Cowdrey and Peter May at Edgbaston in 1957, had stood for 67 years and had become the stuff of legend. Root and Brook left it in the Multan dust.

They became the first team to reach 700 runs while losing just three wickets. Harry Brook was in complete control of his opponents, the conditions and the state of the game as he took the total number of runs he scored in Pakistan – in six innings – to 785. In England he scored just 761.

While Jason Gillespie, the Pakistan coach, certainly tried, it felt unfair to harshly criticize their bowlers' performances on a long, grueling third day. The same was not true for the fourth. Without Abrar Ahmed, their best spinner, who had been hospitalized overnight with a fever, they were guilty of utter filth, often with an appropriate fielding line-up. At some point, Salman Agha was penalized for negative bowling as he aimed his shots towards the leg side. In the end they bowled 150 overs, just one more than England had bowled in the first two days, and conceded 267 more runs.

After Root was dismissed, the pace of scoring accelerated and so did the number of chances. Jamie Smith was dropped twice before falling to 31. After Root's dismissal, Brook scored 57 from his next 34 deliveries before perfecting a sweep to short fine leg and within three overs they were waved in.

In response, Pakistan needed more than anything to show determination and find time to build their confidence and let England's fade. Unfortunately, they started with a pairing that makes a strong case for being the worst opening partnership in history and with the first ball of the innings Chris Woakes duly ripped out Abdullah Shafique's off-stump. It was the fourth time in eight attempts that either Shafique or Saim Ayub failed to score against Pakistan and their average as a pair rose to 2.87.

Shan Masood presented two catching chances and survived them, but seemed determined to return to the dressing room and soon presented Zak Crawley with one which he was unable to convert. The woefully out-of-form Babar Azam followed for five, Brydon Carse dismissed Ayub with his first ball of the innings and Jack Leach caught Saud Shakeel with his second. Finally, Salman Agha and Aamir Jamal provided some stability, although the latter needed Shoaib Bashir to take a simple catch and make it to the stumps. There was much about this game that was completely improbable, and at this point, so are Pakistan's chances of survival.