MULTAN, Pakistan, Oct 11 (Reuters) – England, riding on the sublime batting of Harry Brook and Joe Root, became the first team to win a test by an innings after conceding more than 500 runs in the first stanza, sealing the victory early on the fifth day of the series opener on Friday.
After a record-breaking day in which the duo helped England post a colossal 823-7 before the bowlers ran through Pakistan’s top order, the tourists completed an extraordinary innings and 47-run victory well before lunch.
With Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed not batting due to illness, England reduced the hosts to 220-9 after some early resistance as Jack Leach bagged the three wickets needed and sparked huge celebrations among a small but vocal group of travelling fans.
While the bowlers completed the job, it was a stupendous batting effort that set up the win after man-of-the-match Brook scored 317 and Root made 262 in a partnership that ground the hosts to dust.
“We knew the way to win this game was to put a mammoth score on the board,” England’s stand-in skipper Ollie Pope said.
“I think that’s credit to (Brook and Root) for the skills they’ve got with the bat, the determination they had to put the team in a winning position. So it was awesome.”
Pakistan resumed on a precarious 152-6 and Salman Agha was the first to depart in the morning after a defiant 63, with the introduction of Leach helping England snap his 109-run stand with Aamer Jamal.
England’s pace bowlers peppered the two overnight batsmen with bouncers earlier and Jamal recovered after being hit on the side of the head by a fiery ball from Brydon Carse to bring up his own half-century.
He was then granted a lifeline when Pope dropped a tough chance at square-leg – England’s fifth dropped catch of the innings – and was not out on 55 when he ran out of partners.
Leach pulled off a stunning catch off his own bowling to remove Shaheen Afridi, before having Naseem Shah stumped to finish with figures of 4-30.
England declared after their highest total in 86 years and extracted the most from a lifeless pitch at the Multan Cricket Stadium to rattle Pakistan on Thursday.
‘ANOTHER CHANCE’
The hosts flexed their muscles in the early part of the test with 556 in the first innings, but found themselves under the gun, trailing England by 115 runs at the end of the fourth day and they eventually folded under pressure.
Pakistan’s tally was the joint third-highest first-innings total in a losing cause and marked the first time in more than 700 tests in Asia that a team had lost after making 500-plus runs in the first innings.
Skipper Shan Masood said his team were pained after their sixth straight loss and sought a strong response when the sides meet in the second of three matches next Tuesday.
“We’re hurt as a nation, but the beauty of the game is it always gives you another chance. Life gives you another chance so the quick turnaround might be quite beneficial for us and we’re all looking forward to it,” Masood said.
“We’re getting into good positions. You ask your batting side to put up a good score in the first innings, and the onus on us now is to set the game up well so we can finish it off.
“The trick for us is that we should learn, obviously, from England as well.”
