Harry Brook and Joe Root tore up the record books with their partnership in Rawalpindi

Joe Root and Harry Brook tore up the record books with a monster partnership in Multan, going past Colin Cowdrey and Peter May to register England's highest-ever partnership in Test cricket.

Having put England within touching distance of Pakistan's first innings score of 556 on day three, Root and Brook ground the home side into the dirt on day four. Root reached his double-century early in the day, after he was dropped by Babar Azam in the fourth over of the morning session, with Brook reaching his first Test double century before Lunch. Among the records both have broken in their innings' include Root becoming England's highest-ever Test run-scorer, his own highest ever Test score, and the highest score for a visiting side in Pakistan.

At the end of day three, Brook and Root's fourth-wicket partnership stood at 244, but it quickly passed 300 on the morning of day four. They pushed past 400 before Tea, closing in on the 411-run record for England's highest-ever partnership, which was also for the fourth wicket. They reached the milestone off the last ball of the first over after the Tea interval, taking three runs off a Brook drive. 

The partnership was eventually broken when Root was trapped lbw by Salman Agha. The finally run tally for the partnership was 454 runs off 525 balls.

Full list: England's highest-ever Test partnerships

Players Partnership runs Opposition Wicket Venue Year
Harry Brook & Joe Root 454 Pakistan 4 Multan 2024
Colin Cowdrey & Peter May 411 West Indies 4 Edgbaston 1957
Jonny Bairstow & Ben Stokes 399 South Africa 6 Newlands 2016
Len Hutton & Maurice Leyland 382 Australia 2 The Oval 1938
Denis Compton & Bill Edrich 370 South Africa 3 Lord's 1947
Ken Barrington & John Edrich 369 New Zealand 2 Headingley 1965
Len Hutton & Cyril Washbrook 359 South Africa 1 Ellis Park 1948
Jos Buttler & Zak Crawley 359 Pakistan 5 Southampton 2020
Graham Gooch & David Gower 351 Australia 2 The Oval 1985
Ian Bell & Kevin Pietersen 350 India 3 The Oval 2011

Brook and Root's partnership broke a 67-year record set by Colin Cowdrey and Peter May against the West Indies in 1957. That partnership is England's only other to breach 400.

In terms of the all-time partnership record for any country, Root and Brook were still a way off breaking that barrier. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara still have ownership of that record with their 624-run marathon against South Africa in 2006. However, Brook and Root's partnership is the highest-ever for the fourth wicket for any country, going past Shaun Marsh and Adam Voges' 449 against the West Indies in 2015. It is also the highest by any pair away from home, surpassing the 451 put on by Bill Ponsford and Don Bradman at The Oval in 1934.

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