Zak Crawley (122), Ollie Pope (108), Ben Duckett (107) and Harry Brook (101) runs not out hit tons
By Abdul Jabbar Faisal
RAWALPINDI (December 1, 2022): Four blistering innings, Zak Crawley (122), Ollie Pope (108), Ben Duckett (107) and Harry Brook (101) runs not out, helped England to post a historical total on the scoreboard of 506 for 4 in 75 overs on the opening day of 1st Test match of three-match Tie that commenced here at Pindi Cricket Stadium on Thursday. Also, English broke the 112 years old record of the most runs on the opening day of a Test match, as the previous record was 494 runs created by Australia against South Africa in 1910.
At the end of Day 1, visitors were 506 for 4 in 75 overs, as umpires called off the game due to poor light. Harry Brook 101 (81 balls) and captain Ben Stoke 34 (15 balls) were on the pitch at the stumps. Zahid Mehmood claimed two wickets for 160 runs while Haris Rauf and Mohammad Ali shared one wicket each a piece after conceding 78 and 98 runs respectively. Both batsmen will resume their innings on Friday morning at the same venue.
Harry Brook knocked an unbeaten sparkling innings of 101 runs, as he faced just 81 balls. He smashed two huge sixes and 14 boundaries while skipper Ben Stoke wasted merely 15 balls for his 34 runs innings that was a blend of 4 fours and a single six. Both batters were not out at the end of day one game that was 15 overs short from 90 overs per day fixture.
Pakistani bowlers, both pacers and spinners could not take a sigh of breath at any stage of the match, as there was no mercy word in the opposition batters’ dictionary for them. Zahid Mehmood conceded 160 in 23 overs, Naseem Shah 96 in 15 overs, Mohammad Ali 96 in 17 overs, Haris Rauf 78 in 13 overs, Agha Salman 38 in 5 overs and Saud Shakeel 30 in 2 overs. Except, Mohammad Ali, rest of the bowlers conceded runs with the average of 6 runs per over.
Earlier, in the morning English skipper Ben Stoke won the coin’s battle and decided to bat first at a dry pitch and a simple batting track of Pindi ground. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett showed full aggression and plundered 174 runs in just 27 overs at lunch break. Both batters hit excellent strokes and were on the wicket with 91 and 77 runs respectively and hit 17 and 11 boundaries too.
After the lunch break, Zak completed his feisty ton in 86 balls studded with 19 boundaries, as he was judged LBW by umpire Ahsan Raza on the bowling of Naseem Shah at 99, as TV umpire Marais Erasmus asked the field umpire to change his decision, as the ball was going down the leg-side and was missing the stump clearly.
England batters completed 200 total in the 30th over of the innings, as Zak contributed 106 while his partner scored 88 runs. No one Pakistan bowler could make any trouble for the batsmen, who were smashing four all around the ground. Ben Duckett reached his hundred in 106 balls including 14 fours in the 34th over of the inning, as the total was 331.
Finally, debut Zahid Mehood succeeded to get a wicket for Pakistan when Ben Deckett’s effort to play reverse-sweep and umpire Joel Wilson declared him not out on a big shout for LBW, as on review he had to change his decision in the favour of the bowler. He scored 107 runs in 110 balls with the help of 15 boundaries. Both aggressive batters collected 233 runs for the first wicket and provided a solid start to their team in the first Test clash of the three-match series.
Zak Crawley was 2nd batter, who went back in the pavilion at 235, when pacer Haris Rauf clattered his stumps in 37th over of the English innings. Zaka scored 122 runs in 111 balls and smashed 21 fours.
Joe Root, the most experienced batter of the visiting team, could score only 23 runs, as he faced 31 balls and hit three fours. He was also judged LBW on the bowling of Zahid Mehmood. The total was 286 on the scoreboard. He along with Ollie Pope aggregated 51 runs for the third wicket.
At Tea Break, England batsmen managed 332 for 3 runs in 54 overs, as this session was a little bit in the favour of Pakistan, as the bowler got rid of three opponent batters. Zahid Mehmood claimed two while Haris Rauf one. Ollie Pope was not out on 48 runs while Harry Brook was on 22 not out both batters faced 51 and 23 balls respectively. Ollie hit 8 fours while Brook smashed two fours and only six of the match till the tea break.
Ollie Pope was the third England player, who smashed a century in the Pindi Test. Wicketkeeper batter scored 108 runs in 104 four balls, as his strike rate was over hundred. He sent the ball 14 times over the boundary line.
Summarized Scorecard (Day-1):
Toss: England won and decided to bat
England (Batting):
Zak Crawley (122 runs, balls 111, 4x2, 6x0), Ollie Pope (108 runs, 104 balls, 4x14), Ben Duckett (107 runs, 110 balls, 4x15, 6X0), Joe Root (23 runs, 31 balls, 4x3, 6x0), Harry Brook (101 runs not out, 81 balls, 4x14, 6x2), Ben Stoke (34 runs not out, 15 balls, 4x6, 6x1)
Pakistan Bowling:
Zahid Mehmood (2 for 160), Haris Rauf (1 for 78), Mohammad Ali (1 for 96)
Pakistan (Playing XIs):
Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain & WK), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Haris Rauf, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Ali, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Zahid Mehmood
England (Playing XIs):
Ben Stokes (c), Joe Root, James Anderson, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Jack Leach, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson
Schedule of Tests:
9-13 December – 2nd Test, Multan
17-21 December – 3rd Test, Karachi
