Pakistan vs England, 1st Test, Day 4 Fiery Brook helps England set Pakistan 343-run target

Harry Brook and Joe Root blasted quickfire fifties as England set Pakistan an imposing 343-run target to win the opening Test on the fourth day in Rawalpindi on Sunday.

Brook's fiery 65-ball 87 and Root's 69-ball 73 saw England race to 264-7 before skipper Ben Stokes called his batters back to the pavilion, leaving the home side a maximum 130 overs to see out.

England are playing their first Test series in Pakistan for 17 years, and have brought a limited-overs aggression to their batting in the first of three matches. 

Brook was bowled in Naseem Shah's last over before tea, adding 218 runs in the session after resuming at 46-2 after lunch.

Liam Livingstone remained unbeaten on seven.

 Brook smashed 11 boundaries and three sixes in a swashbuckling knock, narrowly missing a century in each innings after his 153 in England's first-innings run-fest of 657.  

The middle-order batter added 96 for the fourth wicket with Root who scored his 55th Test half-century, which included six boundaries.

Leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood dismissed Root and Stokes (nought) in the same over to finish with figures of 2-84.

Naseem took 2-66 and Mohammad Ali 2-64.

Opener Zak Crawley had earlier raced to a 48-ball 50 with seven boundaries while Ollie Pope (15) and Will Jacks (24) were the other contributors.

Jacks was the pick of the England bowlers, bagging 6-161 to help his side gain a 78-run first-innings lead.

England's innings started with a first-over dismissal as Ben Duckett -- one of four first-innings centurions -- was caught at slip off the second ball of pacer Naseem Shah for a golden duck.

Fellow centurion Pope cracked two boundaries before hooking fast bowler Ali into the hands of Naseem.

Earlier, debutant Jacks took all three wickets to fall after Pakistan resumed at 499-7 -- but not before the host's tail-enders scored freely on a much-maligned flat Rawalpindi Stadium pitch.

Agha Salman (53) and Zahid Mahmood (17) frustrated England for 50 minutes during their stubborn eighth-wicket stand of 57.

Match Summary

Pakistan 579/10 (155.3 ov) & *80/2 (20 ov)

England 657/10 (101 ov) & 264/7d (35.5 ov)

Day Break : Day 4 Pakistan need 263 runs to win.

Scorecard

England Fall of wickets 1st innings: 1-233 (Ben Duckett - 35.4 ov), 2-235 (Zak Crawley - 36.5 ov), 3-286 (Joe Root - 45.6 ov), 4-462 (Ollie Pope - 70.5 ov), 5-515 (Ben Stokes - 75.6 ov), 6-539 (Liam Livingstone - 81.1 ov), 7-576 (Harry Brook - 83.4 ov), 8-641 (Will Jacks - 95.2 ov), 9-649 (Ollie Robinson - 98.2 ov), 10-657 (James Anderson - 100.6 ov)

Pakistan Fall of wickets 1st innings: Fall of wickets: 1-225 (Abdullah Shafique - 65.4 ov), 2-245 (Imam ul Haq - 70.1 ov), 3-290 (Azhar Ali - 80.5 ov), 4-413 (Saud Shakeel - 113.4 ov), 5-473 (Babar Azam - 126.1 ov), 6-475 (Mohammad Rizwan - 127.5 ov), 7-497 (Naseem Shah - 133.5 ov), 8-554 (Agha Salman - 147.4 ov), 9-576 (Zahid Mahmood - 153.5 ov), 10-579 (Haris Rauf - 155.3 ov)

Pakistan Fall of wickets 2nd innings: 1-20 (Abdullah Shafique - 4.1 ov), 2-25 (Babar Azam - 5.3 ov)

Playing XIs

PAKISTAN - Abdullah Shafique, Imam ul Haq, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (C), Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Agha Salman, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Ali-II, Zahid Mahmood

ENGLAND - Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (WK), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Liam Livingstone, Will Jacks, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, James Anderson

Match Details

Date - 2022-12-01 05:00 AM

Venue - Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi

Toss - England won the toss & elected to bat

Umpires - Ahsan Raza, Joel Wilson

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