Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett gave Pakistan a first-hand experience of the infamous “BazzBall” setting numerous records along the way as the first test between Pakistan and England got underway at Rawalpindi.
After numerous hurdles including health scares and political turmoil, the three-test match series between the two sides started with Crawley and Duckett powering England to 174/0 after the first session before Zahid Mahmood broke the 223-run opening partnership in the second session.
Here are the records England has already broken in the first test against Pakistan.
- 174/0 scored by England is the most they have scored in an opening session of a test match.
- The 14 runs that Crawley scored in Naseem Shah’s first over were the most by an English batter in an opening over.
- 83 balls that England took to bring up their team 100 is the fewest it has taken them to achieve the feat.
- England’s 6.44 run rate is the highest run rate in their opening session.
- Crawley got his hundred off 86 balls which is the fastest for an England opener and the fourth fastest overall.
England was also just five runs away from the world record score by lunch on day one which would have bettered South Africa’s 179 against Australia in 1902.
Pakistan’s turmoil is not over as England continues to add runs despite Duckett (107), Crawley (122) and Joe Root (23) being back in the pavilion.
At the time of writing, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook are looking to add to England’s score of 286/3. With Liam Livingstone, Ben Stokes and Will Jacks still to come, Pakistan could be bowling for a while.
