Pak vs Eng, 1st Test – Insatiable appetite and lean physique behind Brooks Multan marathon

This was not an innings Brook could have played 12 months ago. He missed England's trip to India earlier this year to be with his grandmother, who was on her deathbed, and spent the time away from cricket “losing a bit of weight and getting slimmer”. It was worth it and enabled him to withstand the physical challenge of batting in these conditions.

But after a nutritional shake, some food and plenty of fluids during the break, Brook found a different gear after lunch. In the afternoon session, he scored 99 runs off 65 balls as he spun occasionally against Salman Agha and Saim Ayub, whom he contemptuously smashed to reach 300. It was an incredible shot, and its accuracy allowed for an explanation before tea.

Until he missed a swing to back-square leg at 317, Brook looked like he had a realistic chance of not only breaking England's record score, Len Hutton's 364, but also overtaking Brian Lara's world record of 401. He didn't offer a real chance at any point in his innings and didn't even have a setback to worry about.

His only fright came on the third evening. At 75, Brook defended a ball from Aamer Jamal into the goal area, but it bounced up and hit him on the chin. It trickled past his attempt to push it away and landed in the stumps, but moved so slowly that it didn't dislodge the brackets. After seeing Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett give away hundreds, Brook decided not to do it.

Perhaps Pakistan should have adopted the same template. “Our plan was to bowl pretty straight – and when we did that, we did pretty well,” said Jason Gillespie, their coach, on the third night. “But when I think about it, I just wish we had sat a little longer, a little more patient and a little more disciplined.”

They occasionally tested the notion that Brook has a weakness against the short ball and proved the theory unsound. When Shaheen Shah Afridi hit the ball at mid-range, Brook simply ran across the pitch, created space and hit it away with a flat bat for four.

Brook, at his best, strips batting down to its basic principles and hits the ball where the fielders aren't. It was the theme of his game on the fourth day: he charged downfield to knock Jamal out of coverage; He stood completely still to hit Naseem Shah's short ball over the third man and then fell to the offside to hit it over his left shoulder.

That innings also extended Brooks' hard-to-believe record in Pakistan, the country he has felt “at home” in since he played for Lahore Qalandars in the PSL two and a half years ago. In fact, he was significantly better there than at home: Brook has now scored more Test runs in Pakistan (785 in six innings) than in England (761 in 21).

Brook will face new challenges next year: his first full series against India, whom he has only played once, and his first tour to Australia. It remains to be seen how he will fare against two of the world's best attacks, on pitches that pose more problems than this one, but the results of his career so far suggest he should be up to the task.