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Louise Thomas
Editor
Joe Root overhauled Sir Alastair Cook as England’s record Test run-scorer then marked the achievement in fitting style with an iron-willed century against Pakistan.
Root arrived for this first Test in Multan needing 71 to replace Cook’s mark of 12,472 and got there just before lunch, stroking a straight drive for four to go clear at the summit.
That took him into the top five batters of all time, behind the storied quartet of Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar, but a low-key glove punch and a blink-and-you-miss-it wave to the balcony suggested the Yorkshireman was far from done.
By tea he had defied painful pangs of fatigue to reach 119 not out, carrying England’s innings to 351 for three in reply to the hosts’ bumper 556.
He batted on through the afternoon session as he diligently chalked up a 35th hundred but was visibly stricken by cramp and washed out by the physical demands of spending all but eight deliveries of the entire match baking in the Punjabi sun.
Others batted with greater fluency and grander strike-rates – Zak Crawley with 78 off 85 balls, Ben Duckett adding 84 in 75 and Harry Brook raced to 64 not out – but it was Root who showed the steel and determination to carry England’s lead the cause.
For a player who now boasts 99 scores of 50 or more and occupied the crease for more than 542 hours over the course his career, it was par for the course.
As he hauled himself off for a well-earned break, approaching the steps to the dressing room with a sigh, Root had helped England eliminate the prospect of following on.
Both sides must now ponder how to manipulate a winning position on a surface that has shipped over 900 runs already, but for the away side that represents a solid position given Root had arrived at the crease at four for one facing major scoreboard pressure.
Root resumed in the morning on 32 and was in no rush to begin chipping away the 39 he needed to see off Cook – the man who handed him a Test debut in Nagpur 11 years ago.
He took just three singles in the opening half-hour, allowing Crawley and then Duckett to take the role of aggressor as dug himself in for the long haul.
Crawley perished for 78, playing round his front pad and picking out Aamer Jamal at at short midwicket – springing the kind of fielding trap England know all too well from their own long sessions in the field.
Duckett arrived next, his arrival at number four allaying worries over the thumb injury that prevented him opening the batting on Tuesday evening.
He immediately picked up the baton from Crawley, smashing a 45-ball fifty and taking a dismissive approach to lead spinner Abrar Ahmed.
He soon overtook Root, despite conceding a 34-run headstart, but the elder statesman of the side was eyeing a bigger prize and got there with a flowing drive off Jamal.
In the course of his innings he had not only toppled Cook, nine years after the left-hander had replaced Graham Gooch as the country’s most prolific run-maker, but also passed 1,000 runs for the calendar year.
In August Root took ownership of Cook’s other proud achievement, surpassing his record of 33 Test hundreds with back-to-back tons against Sri Lanka at Lord’s.
Duckett fell for 84, lbw to Jamal, just as he looked to be untameable, but Brook was the latest free spirit to crank up the rate alongside Root.
The latter was taking on regular energy gels and desperately sucking in the warm air but the runs kept coming and he reached three figures in 167 balls.
There was barely enough left in the tank to remove his helmet and lift his bat in acknowledgement but somehow he continued, even finding enough devilment to switch his stance and attempt a left-handed sweep.
