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Joe Root and Harry Brook smashed the highest partnership in England’s Test history on day four of the first Test in Pakistan, posting a stand that was finally broken at 454.
The Yorkshire duo racked up relentless double centuries as England turned the screw on a merciless morning in Multan and they broke a 67-year-old record when they passed Peter May and Colin Cowdrey’s partnership of 411, made at Edgbaston in 1957.
The pair were three runs short of claiming the record at the lunch break but the 40-minute delay did not deter them, Brook chalking off the required runs in the first over of the afternoon.
Having rocketed past 450 runs at the crease together Root was eventually dismissed for 262 when trapped plumb lbw by Salman Ali Agha. For the 33-year-old former England skipper it completed a remarkable week, having already surpassed Sir Alastair Cook’s as England’s leading Test run-scorer.
On a lifeless pitch offering an increasingly uneven battle between bat and ball the tourists motored to 658-3 at the lunch break, with Root 259 not out and Brook undefeated on a career-best 218. That turned a deficit of 64 at the start of the day into a lead of 102.
Root and Brook had come together at 249-3 on day three and have spent the time since sapping Pakistan’s spirits – spending 86.3 overs at the crease together before Root finally fell to take the score to 703-4.
Pakistan were one bowler down with spinner Abrar Ahmed absent with a fever but despite their attempts to shut the scoring rate down with negative lines, England piled up 166 runs in 29 overs as they looked to break their opponents.
There was a solitary chance for the hosts to end their suffering when Root pulled Naseem Shah to midwicket on 186, but Babar Azam put down a regulation catch. It proved a costly error, with Root cashing in to the tune of 73 before the interval.
He was in a familiar world as he cruised past 200, doing so for the sixth time in Tests, but it was unchartered territory for his younger partner. Brook had a previous Test best of 186 and a first-class high of 194. Both were ticked off as he laid into a lethargic, sun-beaten attack.
Brook brought up the 400 stand with a nonchalant uppercut for four off Naseem, besting the 399 shared by Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow in Cape Town eight years ago and leaving only May and Cowdrey to catch, which they duly accomplished.
At the interval they had moved to 15 on the all-time Test list, nudging into the top 10 soon after the restart.
