Joe Root and Harry Brook were on the brink of the highest partnership in England’s Test history on day four of the first Test in Pakistan, posting an unbroken stand of 409.
The Yorkshire duo racked up relentless double centuries as England turned the screw on a merciless morning in Multan, needing just three more to break a 67-year-old record.
Peter May and Colin Cowdrey put on 411 at Edgbaston in 1957, a bar which has stood ever since but now looks sure to fall.
For Root it would complete a remarkable week in Pubjab, having already surpassed Sir Alastair Cook’s as England’s leading Test run-scorer.
On a lifeless pitch offering an increasingly uneven battle between bat and ball the tourists motored to 658 for three at the lunch break, with Root 259 not out and Brook undefeated on a career-best 218. That turned a deficit of 64 at the start of the day into a lead of 102.
Root and Brook had come together at 249 for three on day three and have so far sapped Pakistan[s spirits for 80.2 overs.
Pakistan were one bowler down with spinner Abrar Ahmed absent with a fever but despite their attempts to shut the scoring rate down with negative lines, England piled up 166 runs in 29 overs as they looked to break their opponents.
There was a solitary chance for the hosts to end their suffering when Root pulled Naseem Shah to midwicket on 186, but Babar Azam put down a regulation catch. It proved a costly error, with Root cashing in to the tune of 73 before the interval.
He was in a familiar world as he cruised past 200, doing so for the sixth time in Tests, but it was unchartered territory for his younger partner. Brook had a previous Test best of 186 and a first-class high of 194. Both were ticked off as he laid into a lethargic, sun-beaten attack.
Brook brought up the 400 stand with a nonchalant uppercut for four off Naseem, besting the 399 shared by Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow in Cape Town eight years ago and leaving only May and Cowdrey to catch.
At the interval they had moved to 15 on the all-time Test list.
