Harry Brook hundred powers England to set Pakistan 355-run chase

England 281 (Duckett 63, Pope 60, Abrar 7-114) and 275 (Brook 108, Abrar 4-120) lead Pakistan 202 (Babar 75, Shakeel 63, Leach 4-98) by 354 runs

By the time he holed out to deep square leg for 108, Brook had racked up 14 fours and a six in his 149-ball stay, making light of a tricky surface with his powerful strokeplay and impressive judgement of length, particularly against the spin of Abrar Ahmed, who was once again Pakistan’s most threatening bowler, as he finished with 4 for 120, and an 11-wicket match haul on debut.

Despite the carefree urgency of England’s batting, epitomised by the straight drive from Ben Stokes that drew him level with his coach Brendon McCullum on 107 Test sixes, the most by any player, Pakistan enjoyed a decent morning with the ball, claiming the five remaining wickets in 15.5 overs, and just over an hour’s play.

As at Multan, however, where Stokes’ 342 declaration had kept Pakistan in the hunt, and so increased England’s hopes of forcing the matchwinning breakthroughs, the size of the chase may once again aid England’s quest, albeit there is still the best part of nine sessions for Pakistan to hunt down this target.

The initial evidence was of a pitch that had slowed up overnight, and wasn’t offering quite as much spin as on the first three days, and it wasn’t until Stokes skipped down the track to Mohammad Ali in the fourth over of the morning that England picked off the day’s first boundary.

That was the presage to a flurry of boundaries in the subsequent overs, with Brook climbing into Abrar’s offerings with a series of drags to the leg-side, before Stokes got underneath a launch to leg, where Ali on the midwicket boundary ran round for a well-judged catch.

Ollie Robinson didn’t hang around, missing a slog to leg as Abrar skidded a googly through his gate for his 11th wicket, before Mark Wood poked a fast legbreak from Zahid Mahmood to slip. Brook, by now, had cracked Mohammad Nawaz through midwicket to reach his hundred, but he holed out soon afterwards, before James Anderson missed a reverse sweep to wrap up the innings.

Pakistan’s chase got underwar with Mohammad Rizwan opening alongside Abdullah Shafique, after Imam-ul-Haq was sent to hospital for a scan on a suspected hamstring tear.