England's openers at least were in rude health on the field as they blew away an 84-year old record to put Pakistan's bowlers to the sword.
Walking back to the dressing room with the score reading 174-0, the smiles on Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett's faces were as wide as their bats were broad in a thunderous opening session of Test cricket. And just before the break they surpassed the tally of 169-0 from 1938 when the England openers took a shine to the Aussie bowlers at Trent Bridge.
Crawley went on to complete his third Test hundred soon after the break to put the seal on an astonishing start to the series, and an incredible run of form for him against Pakistan.
There were shots galore all around the wicket right from the off when Crawley took 14 off Naseem Shah’s very first over of the game. And both he and Duckett continued at a relentless pace no matter what Pakistan threw at them as they both collected fifties and even flirted with becoming the first England batsmen to score a century before lunch.
Crawley reached his fifty from just 38 balls and was 91 not out when the umpires took the players off while Duckett has announced his return to Test cricket after six years with 77 not out. Their score of 40-0 after six overs was a decent powerplay score, while their 20 tally of 141-0 was more than the 137-8 Pakistan managed in the T20 World Cup final.
And to think that the game came perilously close to being postponed due to a virus sweeping through the England camp, and was only confirmed to take place at 7.30am the morning of the game. The sickness and diarrhoea that had afflicted the squad was still enough to cause wicket-keeper Ben Foakes to drop out of the side, which meant Will Jacks earnt his debut alongside Liam Livingstone.
When the time comes Ollie Pope will take the gloves behind the stumps, but he will still bat at three, no doubt straining at the leash to have a go on the most docile of batting surfaces. Duckett had been one of the players struggling before the game and he took on perhaps more fluids than he otherwise would have done as a result.
But if his tummy was still playing up, it had very little effect on his ability to cut powerfully through the off side when Pakistan dropped a little too short, nor when it came to his trademark sweeps and reverse sweeps against the spinners. The Pakistani bowlers will be hugely disappointed with their performance in the face of such an onslaught, but with three of them making their debut, perhaps it was a lot to ask of them to all shine at the same time.
And the lack of assistance from the pitch cannot be underestimated, as too the lightning fast outfield that has given England’s openers full value and then some for their shots. For both Crawley and Duckett, this was a terrific opportunity to put into practice everything their captain and coach had been asking of them when it comes to positive cricket.
Crawley clearly just loves playing against Pakistan with his previous two innings against them reading 53 and 267, and he played with the sort of fluency that has marked him out as a player of real talent. A hundred before lunch was his for the taking, but he will hardly have been upset to give himself nine more to get in the afternoon, which he duly did, after a little scare.
On 99 he was pinned on the front pad by Naseem and was given out lbw, only to review the decision and be given a reprieve with the ball missing the leg stump.
