Harry Brook’s Historic 317 Powers England to 823-7 Against Pakistan
The visiting side achieved a lead of 267 runs courtesy of their strokeplay. When the captain called them back, Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse were playing at 17 and 9 respectively.
England batters frustrated Pakistan bowlers with a dominant batting display on the morning of the fourth day as they racked up 166 runs without any loss, pushing the team’s total to 658-3.
Joe Root fell early in the second session, getting lbw off Salman Ali Agha after playing a monumental knock of 262 runs from 375 balls, which featured 17 fours.
Jamie Smith joined Harry Brook and they switched gears, constructing a partnership of 75 runs from only 49 balls.
Brook completed his maiden triple-hundred during the partnership with a four off Saim Ayub, reaching the milestone in style. He took 310 balls to reach the milestone and became the sixth English player to do so.
Naseem Shah removed Smith after he played a 31-run knock from 24 balls with two fours and one six.
Saim Ayub got the prized scalp of Brook a few overs later, ending his historic knock at 317. Brook struck 32 boundaries, including three sixes during his 322-ball innings.
Gus Atkinson also fell prey to Saim in the same over before Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse added 24 runs to push the team’s total to 823-7.
For Pakistan, Saim and Naseem picked two wickets, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Aamir Jamal, and Salman Ali Agha bagged one each.
Harry Brook ended the first session with 218*
Earlier in the day, Harry Brook ended the first session with 218* while Joe Root scored a marathon 259*. Their fourth-wicket partnership extended to 409 runs against a helpless Pakistan bowling attack.
Previously, the touring side enjoyed a commanding third session of play on Day 3 as they piled up 141 runs to get to 492/3 with Root closing in on a double century.
Root, unbeaten on 176, and Brook, 141 not out, resumed England’s first innings on the fourth day.
Pakistan were bowled out in their first innings after piling up a mammoth 556-run total against an inexperienced England bowling attack.
Salman Ali Agha remained unbeaten at 104 runs from 119 balls, which featured ten boundaries and three sixes.
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Shan Masood top-scored with a marathon 151-run knock from 177 deliveries, featuring 13 fours and two sixes.
Opening batter Abdullah Shafique also played a brilliant innings of 102 off 184 deliveries, laced up with a dozen boundaries including two sixes.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel (vc), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Abrar Ahmad.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, and Shoaib Bashir.
