NEW DELHI: During a record 454-stand with Joe Root, Harry Brook, whose spectacular 317 was a major factor in England‘s victory over Pakistan by an innings and 47 runs in Multan, stated that his strategy was to simply bat for as long as possible.
The 454 runs that Root and Brook shared together are the highest partnership for England in Test cricket, surpassing the 411 runs that Peter May and Colin Cowdrey shared in 1957 against the West Indies.The record stand helped England declare at 823/7, and on day five, they bowled out Pakistan for 220 to secure an incredible victory.
“I enjoyed it a lot. It was tough out there with the heat, but it was good to be out there with Rooty, putting on that partnership. We just wanted to bat as long as possible and get as many runs as we could. It was a good surface to cash in on – and hopefully many more to come,” said Brook after getting Player of the Match award.
After allowing Pakistan to score 556 in the first innings, Ollie Pope, the interim captain, praised his batsmen for amassing an enormous first innings total. “Credit to the bowlers for how they went about their stuff. The fitness they showed – and the same with Joe Root and Harry Brook.”
“We knew that the way to win this game was to put a mammoth score on the board. It wasn’t just a lead of 100, it was up towards 300. It was awesome. It’s never an easy position to be in, 260-odd runs behind… even if you bat as well as you can and make 400 in that innings, we still would have backed ourselves to chase 140 or so.”
The visitors are ecstatic with the victory in Multan, according to pacer Brydon Carse, who claimed four wickets in his Test debut despite being forced to work very hard. “It has been awesome. The last five days have been a great experience. To top it off with a win today, the lads are buzzing upstairs. A great result!”
“All of the guys – Root and Brook with the bat, all the bowlers – they really put in a massive effort over the last five days. It feels very rewarding now. We were fortunate yesterday where there was that hour and a half period where we got the ball to reverse swing.”
“That was probably as much as we got throughout the game. In the first innings we had thought there would be a period where the ball reversed, so that took us by surprise (that it didn’t). Last night was key for us, where we felt we could make some inroads.”
