ENGLAND sealed a world-record victory over Pakistan in their first Test of the series.
The hosts became the first side to lose a match in Asia after scoring over 500 in the first innings in Multan.
https://twitter.com/SkyCricket/status/1844628990591443157 https://twitter.com/SkyCricket/status/1844297543036903816 https://twitter.com/SkyCricket/status/1844272819590369492The feat has been managed 102 times in the 735 matches that have been played in the subcontinent.
But England‘s rousing comeback into the game meant that Pakistan were the first to taste defeat despite the strong opening.
Pakistan looked to be in a strong position after posting 556 all out thanks to centuries from Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood and Salman Ali Agha.
However, England managed to dwarf the innings in their response despite the absence of the injured captain Ben Stokes.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett scored a respectable 78 and 84 but Joe Root and Harry Brook put on the main show.
Root, 33, hit a personal best of 262 to become England’s leading run-scorer of all time.
The batter now stands on 12,472 Test runs as he surpassed Sir Alastair Cook and is also now the fifth most prolific scorer in cricket history.
He is now just behind Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting and India legend Sachin Tendulkar.
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Brook, however, managed to upstage the record breaker as he smashed an incredible 317 off 332 balls.
The 25-year-old became just the sixth Englishman to score a triple century.
Here is England's scorecard for their huge innings against Pakistan...
Zak Crawley – 78, 85b, 13 4s, 0 6s, 91.76S/R
Ollie Pope – 0, 2b, 0 4s, 0 6s, 0.0S/R
Joe Root – 262, 375b, 17 4s, 0 6s, 69.87S/R
Ben Duckett – 84, 75b, 11 4s, 0 6s, 112.0S/R
Harry Brook – 317, 322b, 29 4s, 3 6s, 98.45S/R
Jamie Smith (Wk) – 31, 24b, 2 4s, 1 6s, 129.17S/R
Chris Woakes* – 17, 16b, 1 4s, 0 6s, 106.25S/R
Gus Atkinson – 2, 2b, 0 4s, 0 6s, 100S/R
Brydon Carse* – 9, 6b, 0 4s, 1 6s, 150S/R
Extras – 23
Total – 823/7 from 150 overs
Brook also became the first Englishman to score over 20,000 international runs across all three formats.
The pair combined for a partnership of 454, which is the team’s best ever and the fourth-highest wicket stand in the history of cricket.
Stand-in captain Ollie Pope will be majorly disappointed that he failed to trouble the scorers as he was out for a two-ball duck.
In total, England scored 823/7 before declaring on day 4 of the Test match with a lead of 267.
The innings are England’s third highest scoring in their history, only behind the 849 against the West Indies in 1930 and a 903/7d against Australia in 1938.
Pakistan returned to the crease with the aim of trying to get themselves into a lead or at least bat long enough to earn a draw.
But it was the turn of the English bowling attack to prove themselves.
Chris Woakes laid down a marker early on as his peach of a delivery dismissed Abdullah Shafique with the first ball of the innings.
Brydon Carse then impressed with the ball as he took the scalps of Saim Ayub and Muhammad Rizwan.
Gus Atkinson also helped himself to two wickets, but it was the spinning maestro Jack Jeach who was the pick of the bowlers.
Leach took the remaining four wickets, including an incredible caught and bowled off Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Abrar Ahmed did not bat in the second innings as he was absent with an injury.
Pakistan were, in turn, dismissed for a total of just 220 by the morning of day 5, which gave England a win by an innings and 47 runs.
As the final wicket tumbled, the Sky Sports commentator insisted that Pakistan will be wanting to forget this match in a hurry.
They said: “It’s all over, Pakistan lose this.
“And it is a world record in a win and a world record that Pakistan will want to forget.
“Scoring 550 plus to suffer a innings defeat for the first time ever in Test cricket.”
The second test begins at Multan from next Tuesday with the final test scheduled for Rawalpindi from October 24.
Pakistan captain Shan Masood hailed England after the result and claimed that his side should take inspiration from them.
He told Sky Sports: “Like I said, 220 in the third innings, depending on what kind of lead you have, can also be a good score.
“The trick for us is that we should learn from England as well, they found out ways to get those 20 wickets. You can’t win Test matches without taking 20 wickets.
“As a team, we have that second innings of batting to improve but we must also take 20 wickets.”
England bowler Carse was also full of praise for his team-mates as he waxed lyrical over the performance.
He added: “Awesome. The last five days have been a great experience and to top it off with a win, the lads are buzzing. Great result.
“All the guys: Rooty, Brooky, all the seamers, they all put in a massive effort and it feels very rewarding now.
“Credit to the guys in that group and the coaching staff, it’s felt as relaxing as it can be in there.
“It’s obviously been a challenge mentally having to come back each session but I’m thoroughly enjoyed it. A great experience.”
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