Record-breaking England Pile Up 506 For 4 On 1st Day Of Rawalpindi Test

RAWALPINDI, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Dec, 2022 ) :England became the first side to score over 500 runs on the opening day of a Test, courtesy to Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope�and Harry Brook, who all hammered scintillating centuries at Pindi Cricket Stadium Rawalpindi on Thursday.

The English batsmen flayed the inexperienced Pakistan bowling attack right from the outset.

England reached 500 in the 75th over and were 506 for 4 at the end of the first day.

Brook (101 off 81 balls) and Ben Strokes (34 off 15 balls) were unbeaten.

Brook, who scored a 50 in the 66th over seemed unstoppable as he smashed 6 4s to Saud Shakeel in the 67th over and reached 84 off 64 balls. He was the fourth batter to score a century for the visitors. He hit 100 off 80 balls including 14 4s and 2 6s.

Earlier, England which chose to bat was 174 without a wicket loss at lunch. Zak Crawley scored 91 off 79, missing the chance to become the first English batsman to score a century before lunch on the first day of a Test match while Ben Duckett scored 107.

In the first hour in morning, the English openers seemed in a T20 mood as boundaries kept on flowing for them at flat Rawalpindi pitch where Pakistan bowlers toiled hard as there was no seam, swing, spin or movement.

Zak Crawley, who had already scored a double century against Pakistan raced towards his 50 off just 38 balls, while Ben Duckett hit his fifty on exactly run a ball. England reached to 100 in just 13.5 overs, while they scored 150 in 23rd over.

Just after the lunch break, Zak Crawley was pinned lbw in the 28.3 over by Naseem Shah but was saved when he went on for the review.

Crawley didn't go under pressure and punched calmly into the covers, scoring his 86-ball hundred in the same over while England reached 200 in the 32nd over.

Duckett raced to his century in style by hitting a 4 in the 35th over to Haris Rauf. After leaving Test cricket for six years he was back with a bang.

The first wicket for the visitors went down in the 36th over when Duckett was pinned lbw by Zahid and was gone on review taken by Pakistan. He went for 107 runs off 110 balls including 15 4s. Crawley and Duckett provided a 233-run partnership to the first wicket.

On the very next ball Ollie Pope was confounded by a low bounce, but was missed. Crawley was the second to go for England when he was bowled out by pacer Haris Rauf in the 37th over. He went down scoring 122 runs off 111 balls including 21 4s.

Both openers were dismissed, but they kept a scoring rate of over six runs an over for 30 overs in a row in this innings from their 10th over to the 39th over.

This was the longest such streak in a Test innings by any team since 2002.

England were 249 for 2 in 40 overs before drinks and reached 250 in the 42st over when Joe Root smashed 4 runs to Ali. England's 3rd wicket fell on 286 runs, when Root was dismissed in the 46th over by Zahid who took his second wicket of the day.

Root was trying to sweep but missed and the ball scooted under the bat and hit him on the back leg. He was gone for 23 off 31 balls. Pope and Root provided a 51-run partnership to the third wicket. 300 for England came in the 50th over.

England were 332 for 3 in 54 overs at tea break and reached 400 in the 65th over. Pope was the third English batter to score a century on the day while Harry Brook scored a 50 in the 66th over. Brook seemed unstoppable as he smashed 6 4s to Saud Shakeel in the 67th over and reached 84 off 64 balls.

England reached 451 in 69 overs at drinks break and lost their 4th wicket in the 71st over when Pope was lbw by Ali. He scored 108 off 104 balls and along with Brook provided a 176 partnership to the fourth wicket. Pakistani bowler Zahid bagged 2 wickets for 160 while Ali and Rauf took a wicket each giving 96 and 78 runs, respectively.