It was a record-breaking day for England on the second day of the third and final Test against Pakistan in Southampton. The star was once again Zak Crawley who converted his maiden Test hundred into a superb innings of 267 and shared a record-breaking stand with Jos Buttler.
England batted the visitors out of the match by declaring their first innings on a mammoth 583-8 with Buttler continuing his return to form by hitting 152. Buttler completed just the second hundred of his 47-match Test career and first as a wicketkeeper.
Crawley’s innings was the seventh highest maiden hundred in 143 years of Test cricket and the 10th highest individual score by any England batsman.
His partnership of 359 with Buttler was also a new England fifth-wicket record in Tests, surpassing the 254 shared by Keith Fletcher and Tony Greig against India in Mumbai in 1973.
It was also the equal sixth-highest stand for any England wicket at Test level.
Crawley reached 200 when he edged a four past second slip off teenage pacer Naseem Shah – his 25th boundary in 331 balls.
Crawley, 22, became the seventh England batsman to turn his maiden Test hundred into a double ton and the first since Rob Key did so against the West Indies at Lord’s in 2004.
The Kent batsman lofted leg-spinner Yasir Shah over long-off for six before a clipped boundary off paceman Mohammad Abbas saw him to 250. But his near 10-hour innings ended when he was stumped down the legside by Mohammad Rizwan off part-time spinner Asad Shafiq.
Crawley faced 393 balls, hitting 34 fours and one six. Together with Buttler, he had taken England from 127-4 to 486-5.
However, it could have been a different tale for England and Buttler. The wicketkeeper was on 99 when, after his counterpart Rizwan came up to the stumps, he was given out caught behind off Abbas.
Buttler immediately reviewed umpire Richard Illingworth’s decision and replays showed the ball had missed the bat. Next ball, Buttler punched Abbas through point to complete a 189-ball hundred with 10 fours and two sixes.
Buttler too fell to a part-timer, Fawad Alam catching a return chance. Alam also accounted for all-rounder Chris Woakes (40) as England declared on 583, giving Pakistan an hour to bat before stumps.
An hour was enough to wreak havoc as England pacers decimated Pakistan's top order, James Anderson dismissing Shan Masood, Abid Ali and Babar Azam. The tourists took stumps at 24-3 and staring down the barrel.
