Former England captain Nasser Hussain lauded Harry Brook and Joe Root for their unflinching fitness and stubbornness levels in a record-breaking day four for the visitors in the first Test against Pakistan at the Multan Cricket Stadium. England claimed a lead of 267 after declaring on a whopping 823/7, thanks to a record 434-run partnership between Root (262) and Brook (317), before reducing Pakistan to 152/6 at stumps to be on the verge of a big victory.
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“That’s one thing maybe this side has been criticised for with the bat, is that they’ve not been ruthless. Forget the conditions and forget the pitch, it’s one of the flattest pitches that we’ve ever seen really, but they were definitely ruthless. And in their own special way. How you can score 820 in 150 overs and still be ruthless? This side has managed to do that.”
“Duckett and Crawley bat the way they do, Root did not change the tempo of the way he bats. Of anyone who has got over 250, his boundary percentage was the lowest, which just shows his level of fitness and the nature of his ruthless batting that we’ve seen for a number of years,” he said.
“The same with Brook. He could have easily got to 150 and thought, ‘You know what, I’m exhausted,’ and played some fancy shot and slog it straight up in the air. He didn’t, he never did that, and neither of them did. You have to admire their fitness but also their stubbornness to a degree. It’s a really good sign that this side, with all their attacking instinct, can go on and amass such a big score,” said Hussain on Sky Sports Cricket.
He also elaborated on how the action of day four was a reminder of why Test cricket is an ‘unbelievable format’. “That’s why Test cricket is an unbelievable format because it tests you for five days. You can’t switch off, you can’t drift away for half a session, and that’s exactly what happened to Pakistan.”
“The mental baggage of having to field for 150 overs and going for 800-plus runs, and then the mental scarring. We spoke this morning about the history of their third-innings collapses, having their best player completely out of form in Babar Azam.”
“You get one, you get two and then all that mental baggage and scarring comes back to haunt you. That’s why this format is so tough. You can be brilliant, 556 (runs in their own first innings), you can put in all the effort you want in the field, you switch off for an hour and the game can go away from you.”
“The game’s gone away from you because of how excellent England were. 556, nearly everything has to go perfectly for you to position yourself as well as this after day four. They have done exactly that,” concluded Hussain.
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