England enjoyed one of their most dominant days in Test cricket in recent memory as they racked up a record total in the Multan Test before decimating Pakistan's top order with the new ball to close in on a massive win.
England notched up their highest total in 86 years after Harry Brook smashed a stunning triple century and Joe Root also made a classy double ton. The visitors declared their innings on 823-7 before Pakistan collapsed to a perilous position on the fourth day on Thursday.
The home team's top order failed to get going in the second innings and the hosts reached stumps on 152-6, trailing England by 115 runs.
After the tourists took a lead of 267, seamer Chris Woakes steamed in and took a wicket off the first ball as a fatigued Abdullah Shafique, who had been on the field for 150 overs, lost his stumps.
Gus Atkinson then got in on the act with the wickets of skipper Shan Masood and Babar Azam, whose poor form continued with the batsman failing to score a fifty in nine Tests.
Brydon Carse also dismissed Saim Ayub with his first ball when the set batter played a poor shot for a catch before the debutant cleaned up Mohammad Rizwan with a delivery that nipped back in to leave Pakistan reeling at 59-5.
Saud Shakeel was caught behind off Jack Leach before Salman Agha and Aamer Jamal stitched together an unbeaten 70-run stand.
Pakistan could have been in even deeper trouble had England held on to all the chances that came their way. The visitors dropped at least three clear opportunities, including one right towards the end of play when Shoaib Bashir dropped a sitter off Jamal.
At seven down, both teams would have played for an additional half hour to enforce the result as Pakistan are one player short after spinner Abrar Ahmed picked up a fever on Thursday. But they managed to push the match into the fifth day.
The fourth, however, belonged to England's batsmen. Resuming on 492-3, England went past Pakistan's 556 quickly with Brook (317) and Root (262) scoring runs at will.
It was the highest score for both batsmen during a 454 run-partnership - the fourth-highest in Test matches - on a flat track at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
Root eventually departed lbw during the second session to one that kept low from Agha.
Brook maintained a high tempo throughout the day as he scored the second-fastest triple ton of all time in 310 balls and became only the sixth Englishman to reach the milestone.
He also became England's first triple centurion in 34 years as he punished Pakistan's bowlers. Six bowlers conceded more than 100 runs for only the second time in Test history.
The record-breaking partnership also marked only the third time two players scored more than 250 in an innings.
Brook's marathon stint finally ended when a miscued sweep off Ayub went straight to Masood.
Root - who broke Alastair Cook's England Test run record of 12,472 on Wednesday - fell short of a triple hundred when he was trapped leg-before by Agha after a 10 hour-stay during which he hit 17 fours.
If Pakistan manage to lose the Test by an innings, it will be the first instance of a team scoring 500 and still losing by an innings.
