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England are on the verge of a famous victory after Harry Brook smashed the second-fastest triple century in history, Joe Root scored a career-best 262 and the tourists declared their first innings at an enormous 823-7 against Pakistan in the first Test on Thursday.
Pakistan, who scored 556 in its first innings, collapsed the second time round to reach stumps on Day Four at 152-6, needing another 115 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
‘An unreal wicket to bat on’
“It was an unreal wicket to bat on and I’ll probably roll it [the wicket] open and take it with me,” Brook said after his marathon seven-hour innings of 317 runs off 322 balls that featured 29 fours and three sixes.
Brook raised his triple hundred off 310 balls, which was the second-fastest in Test history after Virender Sehwag of India achieved the feat in 268 balls against South Africa in 2008. “Me and Rooty both were just trying to cash in on what was a good pitch,” Brook said. “We were both struggling with the heat for a while, [but] it makes you feel so comfortable when you watch him at the other end, he makes the game look so easy.”
Brook was one of England’s key batters during its 3-0 sweep in Pakistan two years ago when he scored centuries at Rawalpindi, Multan and Karachi.
Marathon stand
Brook shared England’s highest-ever partnership of 454 runs with Root for the fourth wicket, taking the team from 249-3 to 703-4 in a marathon stand.
04
No. of times 800 or more runs have been scored in Tests
Brief scores
Pakistan 556 & 152-6 (S Agha 41*; G Atkinson 2-28, B Carse 2-39) v England 823-7d (H Brook 317, J Root 262, B Duckett 84, Z Crawley 78,
J Smith 31; S Ayub 2-101, N Shah 2-157)
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