England eyes big lead against Pakistan after Root and Brook hit career-best double centuries

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Joe Root and Harry Brook hit career-best double centuries in a record-breaking fourth-wicket stand as England eyed a big lead in the first cricket test against Pakistan on Thursday.

England swiftly progressed to 658-3 at lunch on Day 4 for a lead of 102 runs as Pakistan missed out specialist leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed, who couldn’t take the field due to a fever.

Root raised his sixth double hundred and fluently moved to 259 while Brook continued to demoralize Pakistan on a benign wicket with his maiden double century and was unbeaten on 218 off 257 balls.

On Wednesday, Root became England’s highest test run-scorer and moved to No. 5 in overall test runs.

The three wicket-taking Pakistan fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi (1-120), Naseem Shah (1-121) and Aamer Jamal (1-101) went for plenty of runs against Root and Brook.

The 409-run unfinished stand between Root and Brook off 487 balls bettered England’s previous best partnership for the fourth-wicket against Pakistan when Jos Buttler and Zak Crawley put on 359 runs at Southampton in 2020.