BY ASGHAR ALI MUBARAK
RAWALPINDI: In the first match of the series against Pakistan, 4 England batsmen scored centuries and broke the 112-year-old record of most runs in one day.
England scored 506 runs for 4 wickets in just 75 overs, breaking a 112-year-old record with the help of 4 centuries from 4 batsmen on the first day of the first Test against Pakistan.
In the first Test match of the series being played in Rawalpindi, England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and decided to bat first. The openers scored 14 runs in the first over of Naseem Shah and completed a half-century in just the ninth over.
Openers Ben Duckett and Zach Crawley both continued to bat aggressively and completed the team’s century in just 13.4 overs in the first hour of play. Zac Crawley took a relatively more aggressive approach and completed his century shortly after the lunch break.
Zach Crawley was lucky to score 99 when he was declared notout by third umpire through DRS. It didn’t take long for Ben Duckett to complete his century too and he completed the first century of his career in 104 balls by hitting Haris Rauf for a boundary.
Pakistan got their wicket on 233 when Ben Duckett was out after scoring 107 in an attempt to play a reverse sweep, the field umpire declared him not out, upon which Pakistan correctly decided to seek a review. The left-arm opener was declared out and thus Zahid Mahmood took his first wicket in Test cricket.
The England team had not yet recovered from the loss when Haris Rauf scattered the wickets of Zac Crawley who played for 122 runs. After two wickets fell, Ollie Pope was joined by veteran Joe Root and the two added 51 more for the third wicket.
Root was dismissed for 23 runs and could not keep wickets despite the use of reviews. After that, Harry Brooke came to the wicket and the duo did not let any more wickets fall until the lunch break. When the tea break took place on the first day of the match, England had scored 332 runs for the loss of three wickets.
On behalf of Pakistan, Zahid Mehmood took two wickets while Haris Rauf got one wicket. Ollie Pope and Harry Brooks put on a brilliant partnership for the fourth wicket to take the team’s score to 462 runs, but Ollie Pope’s innings of 108 runs was ended by Muhammad Ali.
Harry Brooks completed his century with 14 fours and 2 sixes to end the first day. On the first day of the Rawalpindi Test, 75 overs were bowled where England scored a record 506 runs for 4 wickets.
Harry Brooks is 101 and captain Ben Stokes are notout at the crease with 34 runs. Zahid Mehmood got 2 wickets, Haris Rauf and Muhammad Ali got one wicket each from Pakistan.
Earlier in 1910, in the match played in Sydney between Australia and South Africa, 494 runs were scored on the first day, which was a world record, but yesterday, England also claimed a 112-year record by scoring a lot of centuries.
In the first Test of the series, the majority of Pakistan’s team consists of young players and for the match, Pakistan has given debut to four players. It should be noted that the England team is playing the first Test match on Pakistani soil after 17 years where England last played a Test match during the 2005 tour of Pakistan.
The postponement of this historic match started when half of England’s squad fell ill due to a virus a day before the match.
England captain Ben Stokes, along with other players and several members of the staff, have also succumbed to the stomach infection. The England team has given test caps to Liam Jacks and Liam Livingston for the first test match. Both the teams for the match consist of these players.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Shafiq, Imamul Haq, Azhar Ali, Saud Shakeel, Muhammad Rizwan, Agha Salman, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Muhammad Ali and Zahid Mehmood.
England: Ben Stokes (captain), Zac Crawley, Ben Foakes, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Will Jacks, Liam Livingston, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leech and James Anderson.
