England Dominate Pakistan: Harry Brook’s 317 and Joe Root’s 262 Set Historic Test Records
England vs Pakistan 1st Test Day 4: During a pivotal fourth day of the first Test match between Pakistan and England in Multan, England declared an astounding 823/7 to take command of the match.
Harry Brook’s first-ever triple century of 317 and Joe Root’s career-high 262 put England on the back foot and likely defeated Pakistan in their record-breaking partnership of 454.
Key Performances and Match Scorecard
Pakistan 556 and 152 for 6 (Salman 41*, Atkinson 2-28) trail England 823 for 7 dec (Brook 317, Root 262, Duckett 84, Crawley 78) by 115 runs.
Match Analysis
Day four was something Pakistan feared and England had hoped of, and it was arguably not something this submissive Multan field deserved. After initially seemed to be heading nowhere, the first Test has suddenly turned to the advantage of the tourists, who are about to record yet another historic victory here.
This match includes additional history for England thanks to their incredible 823 for 7, their third-highest total and fourth overall, which included Joe Root’s new career-best of 262 and Harry Brook’s first-ever triple-century of 317. Pakistan, meanwhile, reached unprecedented lows.
Their second innings began horribly as a result of a difficult time in the field; they lost Abdullah Shafique at the first ball and ended up at 82 for 6, finally closing at 152 for 6. They are probably three wickets from losing their sixth straight Test match, and their third at home, after Abrar Ahmed was admitted to the hospital due to a fever.
That Pakistan was still ahead by 64 when they went to bed on Thursday morning seemed like a lifetime ago. But even then, the indicators were suspicious, and they proved to be so with Brook and Root returning on 144 and 176, respectively.
It had reached 454 by the time Root was trapped leg before wicket by Salman Agha, breaking their partnership, which was the biggest outright for England and the fourth greatest for any wicket against any team in Tests. They were supposed to split on 258 but Root, on 186, had a reprieve when he pulled Naseem Shah to midwicket thanks to a straightforward missed catch by Babar Azam.
After Root became England’s highest Test run scorer on the third day and went on to achieve 20,000 runs across all formats with his first boundary of the day, Brook arrived as the less spectacular of the two tales. However, the younger Yorkshireman would grab the news when he became the sixth triple centurion in England—the first since Graham Gooch.
Nine years after Gooch’s historic 333 against India at Lord’s in 1990, Brook finally ended on 317 from an astounding 322 balls, showing incredible fitness and shot-making all through. It took him 310 deliveries to attain the milestone, which was 32 balls short of Virender Sehwag’s 2008 effort against South Africa. This made it the second fastest Test triple century.
That kind of effort was necessary to overshadow Root as he scored his sixth double-century in Test cricket; the only player for England with more is Wally Hammond (7).
Root had been batting since day two’s evening, when he came to the plate at 4 for 1 following Ollie Pope’s departure. It took Root just eight deliveries out of the match’s 285.1 overs to be removed from the field when he was removed, leaving England ahead by 147 at 703 for 4. He should have had more than 14.5 overs in the sheds before the declaration, but he will be relieved that day five should have some more recuperation time after suffering from cramp on day three.
Brook was still at 260 after easily surpassing his previous best Test score of 186 at Wellington, New Zealand, in 2023, as well as a notable century-plus first-class century of 194 against Kent in 2022. With an easy single from his 245th delivery, he confirmed his maiden red-ball double.
The next level needed only 65 deliveries, with 10 fours and two sixes, then 118 deliveries to reach 100 and then 127 more to reach 200. He came within ten runs of that triple with the first of those powerful hits—a straight and true one from Salman—and the second, a charg and thwack over an extra cover from Naseem.
Fielders from Pakistan gathered to offer their congratulations to him, obviously relieved to finally see off a batsman who now has more Test runs in their nation than he does (785 to 761). When Brydon Carse, who hit his second ball in Test cricket for six overs long-off, joined Chris Woakes for a brief stand of 24, Brook was in the middle of three wickets falling in 20 deliveries for as many runs. At that time, stand-in skipper Ollie Pope brought the team in with a lead of 267.
At the time, with six bowlers giving up 100 runs or more for just the second time in Test history, it seemed like a mercy to the hosts, who were nursing the largest total they had given up in an innings. But there was still to come.
Horribly, Woakes found the required shape in the air and off the pitch to remove Shafique’s off stump during the six-over interval that before tea. Even though Woakes would later dismiss Shan Masood for a huge leap at mid-off and allow Gus Atkinson to miss an equally difficult opportunity off his bowling at cover, apologies would be made at the beginning of the evening session.
Atkinson eventually got Masood, as the captain of Pakistan offered Zak Crawley a soft catch, one of two midwickets that he managed to get. Then, with a length ball in the off stump channel, the Surrey fast left a struggling Babar Azam edging past Smith.
Next, it was Carse’s turn to open up some more batting gaps, but he could give Ayub credit for giving him a simple one with the opening ball of the second innings. After being served a short, wide loosener, the left-hander attempted to clear cover, but it was an aberration that needed a fantastic take from Ben Duckett, who was running back from mid-off. It said that Pakistan’s true enemies weren’t on the ground, but rather existed in their imaginations.
That would be the worst delivery that Carse, who is regarded as the best seamer, has ever bowled. He was striking the ball hard and getting spectacular movement into the right-handers through the air while bowling at speeds in the mid-to-late eighties. Mohammad Rizwan’s middle stump was knocked back with a delivery that exhibited all of those qualities, giving the rookie rapid figures of 2 for 39 from his 10 overs thus far.
Pope was a cunning captain who rotated the quicks in addition to choosing his field placements. And he deserved credit when Jack Leach replaced Carse and dismissed Saud Shakeel, who was caught behind off the left-arm spinner’s second ball.
The last wicket to fall was that of Aamer Jamal (12), who should have had another when he top-edged a pull shot off Carse that Shoaib Bashir fumbled at deep backward square leg. Building on the reprieve, Jamal went with Salman Agha, whose 41 brought some order back into the proceedings. Even so, it’s just bought another day to postpone a humiliating defeat.
