Key events
Chris Woakes speaks to Sky Sports
We spent a lot of time in the field and it takes it out of you, so we have to thank the batters for giving us a rest. They put on a masterclass.
It’s been a really good pitch and you’d expect guys to score runs, but the levels of fitness and concentration… it’s an incredible achievement.
[On Harry Brook] You could see incredible talent but you still need to prove it at international level. You can never say, flat out, ‘this kid’s gonna be a star’. You need to put in the hard work to go with that talent and he’s done that.
In these conditions you really want to make the first few overs count, especially when they’ve been out in the field for so long, and thankfully I managed to find a crack with that first delivery. But you do have in the back of your mind: ‘This is the moment’ and you want to put a marker down.
You have to refuel all the time. You literally can’t get enough in. And even though you’re constantly taking on fluids, you hardly ever need to go to the toilet which shows how much you lose.
You don’t want to bowl on pitches like this too often but I think we’ve done a great job as a unit. We’ll keep coming today, however long it takes.
And you thought Ben Stokes’ England were pushing the envelope
This is how good Harry Brook is. Joe Root made his highest Test score, becoming England’s leading runscorer in the process, and he was still partially overshadowed.
Preamble
We shouldn’t take any of this for granted, you know. One day, probably sooner than we expect, England will be crap again and we’ll wonder whether all that Bazball stuff actually happened. They scored eight hundred and how many?
England fans have waited their whole lives for a team like this. They’re not the best in the world, but they might be the most exciting in Test history. And they keep pulling off mind-boggling victories. It started when Jonny Bairstow went berserk at Trent Bridge in 2022, and the list should have another entry today: Multan 2024, when England got blood out of the stone 20 times* and scrawled WE WOZ ERE all over the record books.
Pakistan will resume this morning on 152 for 6, still 115 behind, and it seems unlikely that Abrar Ahmed will bat. Barring the mother of all Danny Morrisons, England will make it four wins out of four in Pakistan under Baz and Ben. Before that their record away to Pakistan (including series in the UAE) was played 31, won two.
I don’t know what else to tell you, so here’s Simon Burnton’s report on a day that, even by England’s standards, was quite extraordinary.
* Or 19 if Abrar doesn’t bat
