By Associated Press
Joe Root celebrated his record-breaking day with a resolute 35th century as England cruised to 492-3 on Day 3 of the first cricket test against Pakistan on Wednesday.
Root overtook Alastair Cook as England’s top run-scorer in tests to make an unbeaten 176 and his Yorkshire teammate Harry Brook compiled a spectacular 141 not out off 173 balls on a placid pitch of Multan Cricket Stadium.
The two have combined for a 243-run partnership, hitting 24 boundaries between them, and made Pakistan bowlers toil hard on a benign wicket which hasn’t deteriorated over the last three days.
England now trails Pakistan by 64 runs through its usual “Bazball” aggressive batting in 3 1/2 sessions, in comparison to the home team’s score of 556 over 5 1/2 sessions.
Root overcame cramps in intense hot weather to bat the entire day after resuming on 32. He also featured in two other century-stands with Ben Duckett (84) and Zak Crawley (78), who were the only wickets to fall in the first two sessions.
“It’s pretty cool being out there in the middle with him (Root),” Duckett said after sharing a 136-run partnership with Root. “One of the greats of the game and certainly greats of English cricket.”
Brook followed his 108 at the same venue two years ago, with another belligerent century as Pakistan couldn’t separate his pairing with Root even after taking the second new ball.
But Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie hoped his fast bowlers will not let England run away with a meaningful lead when play resumes on Thursday.
“If we can take a couple of wickets early and get into their all-rounders, we can build from there,” Gillespie said. “We still have a ball that isn’t too old. Our (fast) bowlers haven’t had a heavy workload … they’ll come back ready to go, and we’ll try to crack it open tomorrow morning.”
However, both fast bowlers Naseem Shah (1-87) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (1-88) were ineffective after hardly finding any reverse swing with the old ball. Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed also couldn’t find any turn of the hard surface, which had some cracks, as England plundered the leggy for 0-174 off his 35 wicketless overs.
Brook had a lucky escape on 75 in an otherwise flawless knock when Aamer Jamal’s short ball gently rolled back to the stumps but didn’t dislodge them after ricocheting off the batter’s chest.
Root survived two leg before wicket reviews in a patient knock of 277 balls. Naseem was mighty close to getting the England star batter lbw on 168 and Jamal went for unsuccessful television referral before Root had surpassed Cook’s run-tally of 12,472 in the first session.
Root crossed Cook’s tally with a straight-driven boundary before lunch off Jamal to reach 71 and then completed his first test century in Pakistan with a reverse sweep after the break.
Brook was aggressive from the onset and didn’t hesitate to loft Abrar for a straight six as he raised his sixth test century – and fourth against Pakistan – off 118 balls with Pakistan captain Shan Masood running out of ideas to break the partnership.
Both batters didn’t give Pakistan any chance with the second new ball, taken in the latter half of the final session, as England scored at a brisk pace of 4.87 an over in a dominant day for the visitors.
Earlier, Duckett recovered from a thumb injury which denied him opening England’s first innings on Tuesday afternoon and smashed 84 off 75 balls before he was pinned lbw by Jamal when he came round the wicket to the left-hander in the second session.
England lost the wicket of Crawley inside the first half hour when he chipped a catch of Afridi after adding 14 runs to his overnight score of 64. Jamal pounced on the opportunity on a second attempt at short mid-wicket as Crawley tried to whip the fast bowler on the on-side.
But Root stayed calm and Brook showed plenty of aggression to take England into a dominant position.
AP
