Multan Test: Root, Brook put England in commanding position against Pakistan – SUCH TV

The third day of the first Test between Pakistan and England came to an end with Joe Root scoring an unbeaten century and guiding the team to 492/3 alongside Harry Brook on Wednesday.

England were trailing by 64 runs when the session ended, with Root batting on 176 and Brook on 141 not out.

The former Test captain and Brook were able to score after hitting 12 shots directing towards the boundary and one towering six.

Root got to his 65th test fifty earlier with an inside edge and the 33-year-old survived a loud lbw appeal to go past Alastair Cook’s record and into the top-five in the all-time list behind Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar.

After Root, Harry Brook completed his century in the 84th over with eight fours and one six. It was Brook’s sixth Test ton and fourth against Pakistan — which came off 118 balls.

Resuming on 96-1 after Pakistan amassed 556 in their first innings on a flat pitch at the Multan Cricket Stadium, England lost Zak Crawley for 78 inside the first hour when the opener flicked one from Shaheen Afridi to Aamer Jamal at mid-wicket.

That abruptly ended the 109-run stand for the second wicket but England were in no mood to slow down.

Duckett, who dislocated his left thumb while taking a catch and was unable to open on Tuesday, showed no signs of the issue as he took to the crease and smashed spinner Abrar Ahmed out of the attack temporarily with three boundaries in the 30th over.

He needed only 45 balls to bring up his half-century as the hosts struggled to keep the run-rate under five an over.

The third day saw the Men in Green dismissing three English players altogether, with Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Aamer Jamal taking one wicket each.

Playing XI

Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmad

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir