England have produced one of the most astonishing days in the history of Test cricket, scoring 506-4 runs from 75 overs on the opening day of their match with Pakistan.
In their first fixture in the long format of the game in Pakistan for 17 years, England won the toss and set about scoring at will in Rawalpindi, a day after a sickness bug could have led to the Test being delayed by 24 hours.
Of all the records that fell, England surpassed a team record which had lasted almost a century as they clocked up the highest amount of runs in a single day in their history, as well as becoming the first team to score 500 runs on the first day.
England also had four centurions, the first time that has ever been achieved on the opening day of a Test match by any nation, with Zak Crawley (122) bringing up three figures in the quickest ever time - 86 balls - by an England opener.
Crawley combined with Ben Duckett to put on 233 for the first wicket from just 35.4 overs, Duckett falling for 107 off 110 deliveries.
Ollie Pope was the next man to reach his century, the number three making 108 off 104 balls, before Harry Brook made it a quartet of players to reach the feat during the closing session.
FOUR centuries?! Four? What a day for England!😲
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) December 1, 2022
Harry Brook gets his first Test ton 👏 pic.twitter.com/nTBFGPXQQ1
Brook is currently on 101 from 81 deliveries, occupying the crease alongside captain Ben Stokes who combined precision with pure slogs to end the day on 34 from 15.
Given the achievements of his teammates, Joe Root will feel that he has missed out by registering just 23 from 31 balls, his strike-rate of 74.19 by far the lowest of the six batsmen who made it to the crease.
While Zahid Mahmood took two of Pakistan's wickets, he conceded 160 runs from 23 overs, and Pakistan naturally looked deflated as they made their way off the pitch at stumps.
That was brought about by the umpires deciding that bad light should stop play, despite England scoring 18 runs in the 75th over, and it left the tourists three runs short of the world record for most amount of runs in a day.
However, England reached 500 runs in the shortest amount of balls in Test history, while it was the first time since 2007 that four of their players had hit tons.
England also scored at a run-rate of 6.74. If England are bowled out, they stand to obliterate the record run-rate for a completed Test innings, that feat having been held by Australia since 1902 with a rate of 5.8.
Darren Plant
