Joe Root overhauled Sir Alastair Cook as England’s record Test run-scorer then marked the achievement in fitting style with an iron-willed century against Pakistan.
Root arrived for this first Test in Multan needing 71 to replace Cook’s mark of 12,472 and got there just before lunch, stroking a straight drive for four to go clear at the summit.
That took him into the top five batters of all time, behind the storied quartet of Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar, but a low-key glove punch and a blink-and-you-miss-it wave to the balcony suggested the Yorkshireman was far from done.
By tea he had defied painful pangs of fatigue to reach 119 not out, carrying England’s innings to 351 for three in reply to the hosts’ bumper 556.
He batted on through the afternoon session as he diligently chalked up a 35th hundred but was visibly stricken by cramp and washed out by the physical demands of spending all but eight deliveries of the entire match baking in the Punjabi sun.
Others batted with greater fluency and grander strike-rates – Zak Crawley with 78 off 85 balls, Ben Duckett adding 84 in 75 and Harry Brook raced to 64 not out – but it was Root who showed the steel and determination to carry England’s lead the cause.
For a player who now boasts 99 scores of 50 or more and occupied the crease for more than 542 hours over the course his career, it was par for the course.
As he hauled himself off for a well-earned break, approaching the steps to the dressing room with a sigh, Root had helped England eliminate the prospect of following on.
Both sides must now ponder how to manipulate a winning position on a surface that has shipped over 900 runs already, but for the away side that represents a solid position given Root had arrived at the crease at four for one facing major scoreboard pressure.
