MULTAN: Jack Leach took three wickets on the final day to steer England to a historic victory by an innings and 47 runs in the first Test of the three-match series against Pakistan here on Friday.
Pakistan started the final day with Salman Ali Agha (41*) and Aamir Jamal (27*) on the crease with the scoreboard reading 152-6.
With the hosts trailing by 115 runs, both batters added 39 runs in the morning session before Jack Leach removed Salman, who scored 63 runs from 84 balls with the help of seven boundaries.
Aamir Jamal played a patient knock of 55 runs from 104 balls before Leach removed Shaheen Afridi (10) and Naseem Shah (6) in the same over to wrap Pakistan’s innings at 220 runs. Meanwhile, Abrar Ahmed did not take the field on the fourth and fifth day.
Leach led England’s bowling attack with bowling figures of 4-30, while Gus Atkinson and debutant Brydon Carse bagged two wickets each.
Pakistan had a dismal start to their second innings as right-handed opener Abdullah Shafique fell for a duck on the second delivery of the first over.
His dismissal jolted Pakistan’s batting unit, which accumulated 556 runs in the first innings, and England made successive strikes to reduce them to 82/6, trailing a further 185.
Salman Ali Agha and Aamir Jamal offered fightback in the dying minutes of the fourth day with a gritty 70-run partnership.
England had declared their first innings after amassing a mammoth 823/7 with a lead of 267 runs. Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse were playing at 17 and 9 respectively when the captain called them back.
England batters frustrated Pakistan bowlers with a dominant batting display on the morning of the fourth day as they racked up 166 runs without any loss, pushing the team’s total to 658-3 in the first session on Day 4.
Joe Root fell early in the second session, getting lbw off Salman Ali Agha after playing a monumental knock of 262 runs from 375 balls, which featured 17 fours.
Harry Brook was joined by Jamie Smith and they switched gears, constructing a partnership of 75 runs from only 49 balls.
Brook completed his maiden triple-hundred during the partnership with a four off Saim Ayub, reaching the milestone in style. He took 310 balls to reach the milestone and became the sixth English player to do so.
Smith was removed by Naseem Shah after he played a 31-run knock from 24 balls with two fours and one six.
Saim Ayub got the prized scalp of Brook a few overs later, ending his historic knock at 317. Brook struck 32 boundaries, including three sixes during his 322-ball innings.
Gus Atkinson also fell prey to Saim in the same over before Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse added 24 runs to push the team’s total to 823-7.
For Pakistan, Saim and Naseem picked two wickets, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Aamir Jamal and Salman Ali Agha bagged one each.
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Earlier in the day, Harry Brook ended the first session with 218* while Joe Root scored a marathon 259*. Their fourth-wicket partnership extended to 409 runs against a helpless Pakistan bowling attack.
Previously, the touring side enjoyed a commanding third session of play on Day 3 as they piled up 141 runs to get to 492/3 with Root closing in on a double century.
Root, unbeaten on 176 and Brook, 141 not out, resumed England’s first innings on the fourth day.
Pakistan were bowled out in their first innings after piling up a mammoth 556-run total against an inexperienced England bowling attack.
Salman Ali Agha remained unbeaten at 104 runs from 119 balls, which featured ten boundaries and three sixes.
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Shan Masood top-scored with a marathon 151-run knock from 177 deliveries, featuring 13 fours and two sixes.
Opening batter Abdullah Shafique also played a brilliant innings of 102 off 184 deliveries, laced up with a dozen boundaries including two sixes.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel (vc), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Abrar Ahmad.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, and Shoaib Bashir.