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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 yesterday.
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.
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.
The sides meet in the second of three matches next Tuesday.
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