On the fourth day of the first Test match at Multan, England broke numerous records against Pakistan. Harry Brook (317) and Joe Root (262), two Yorkshiremen, led England’s enormous declared total of 823/7. Below is a summary of the day’s main achievements.
Brook is Recorded in Historical Texts
In Test cricket, Brook is the sixth player from England to make a triple century; the previous one was Graham Gooch in 1990. 317 is the fourth-highest knock against Pakistan and the fifth-highest individual score for England in Test matches.
With 310 balls needed to reach 300, Brook’s triple century is the second fastest in history, only surpassed by Virender Sehwag’s 278-ball score against South Africa in Chennai. For his first 100 runs, he needed 118 balls; for his subsequent 100 runs, he needed 127 balls; and for his final 200 to 300 runs, he needed only 65 balls.
5 Brook became the fifth batsman to reach three hundred runs while batting at number five or lower. Michael Clarke, who scored an undefeated 329 against India in Sydney in 2012, was the only player to score more. The previous record for an England player batting number five or below was 287, set by Regie “Tip” Foster in 1903 during his maiden match against Australia.
The Root-Brook Album Collaboration
454 The partnership of 454 stands as the highest partnership for any wicket in Test history, the highest partnership for any wicket or lower, the highest partnership for England, and the highest partnership for any wicket against Pakistan. The only other duo to record a 400+ partnership in Test cricket for England was Colin Cowdrey and Peter May, who combined for 411 against the West Indies at Edgbaston in 1957.
Two batters have scored more than 250 runs three times in one inning. Gary Sobers (365*) and Conard Hunte (260) against Pakistan in Kingston in 1958 were the first two players to accomplish this. Mahela Jayawardene (374) and Kumar Sangakkara (287) against South Africa at Colombo SSC 48 years later were the second pair to do it.
Two years after Graeme Fowler (201) and Mike Gatting (207) against India in Chennai in 1985, Root and Brook are the second English duo to score two hundred and fifty runs in the same innings.
There are just six host countries where Root has made a double hundred: Kumar Sangakkara and Younis Khan, together with Brian Lara, have each scored in five different host countries. Additionally, Root made history by being the first player outside Asia to make two centuries in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India.
Root scored 25.95 per cent of his runs from boundaries, hitting 17 fours out of a possible 262. Root’s percentage of 25.95 is the second lowest of any player to score 200 or more in those innings for which boundary hit stats are available. Grant Flower, who scored 50 runs of his undefeated 201 (11 x 4s & 1 x 6s) against Pakistan in Harare in 1995, is the only player with a lower boundary share.
England Intensifies The Suffering
Four examples of a team scoring 800 or more points. The last time Sri Lanka scored 952/6 against India in a Test match played at the Colombo RPS in 1997 was during the first two of those timeless matches.
The most excellent total England achieved against Australia is still 903/7 at the Oval in 1938; the previous record against Pakistan was 790/3, which the West Indies announced in Kingston in 1958.
267 Pakistan gave up the second-highest lead of any side after scoring more than 500 in their opening innings with 267. India was the only team to concede more in the 1997 Colombo RPS match when Sri Lanka scored 952/6 against their 537/8, giving them a 415 first-inning advantage.