The England cricket team shattered cricketing records by hammering 500 runs on the Day 1 of the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. ‘Bazz-ball' was in full swing as the likes of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook registered centuries. On the day only 75 overs were possible, with England scoring 506 runs in total. The batting heroics from the England team have seen a plethora of reactions from the cricketing fraternity all across the globe. Even Pakistan great Wasim Akram reacted to England's heroics on Twitter.
Wasim Akram's tweet summed up the manner in which England stunned the cricketing world. The legendary Pakistani fast bowler, who himself has scripted some of the finest records in world cricket, said: “Now I have seen everything 500 in 74 overs”.
England dominated the hapless Pakistan bowling, reaching 506/4 when Harry Brook reached 101. Earlier, Ollie Pope had scored 108 Crawley had amassed 122 and Duckett 107.
Duckett's milestone came in his first Test in six years, after his debut against Bangladesh in 2016. He was then discarded after scoring just 110 runs in four matches.
Crawley, 24, drove Pakistan pacer Naseem Shah to the cover boundary in the first session to reach his third Test century in his 29th match, but not before overturning a leg-before decision via review.
The lanky 1.96-metre (six-foot-five) batsman showed his intent right from the start, hitting three boundaries off Naseem's first over of the day and bringing up his half-century with another off spinner Zahid Mahmood.
He narrowly missed the chance to become the first England batsman to score a century before lunch, falling nine short.
Seven England batsmen, including current captain Ben Stokes, have scored a century before lunch in a Test -- but none on the first day.
England's robust batting was the ideal start to the Test -- their first in Pakistan in 17 years -- after it hung in the balance Wednesday when several visiting players came down with a mystery virus.
With AFP inputs