Record-breaking Root grinds down Pakistan to leave England in charge

On a dream pitch but in nightmare conditions Joe Root fought cramp, fatigue and the danger of dehydration across a day at the crease to take a joyful, painful stride into history.

- Simon Burnton

Of the three things the 33-year-old Yorkshireman had to worry about - the heat, his body, and his opponents - the latter were by some margin the least vexing on his way to overtaking Alastair Cook to become England's all-time leading run-scorer, and helping his team to make Pakistan's once daunting first-innings total appear undercooked.

By the close they stood on 492 for three, trailing by 64, Root was on 176 - with Harry Brook not far behind on 141 - and the question had gone from whether he would score a century to how many he might like.

Towards the end Root could barely limp, let alone run, and having been on the field for all but eight balls of a match played in often sweltering temperatures - he has spent eight hours and one minute at the crease - his discomfort was hardly surprising.

This was one of those steamy days when the sweetest thing about reaching triple figures might just have been the opportunity to take off his helmet for a while. When he was on 86 he tried to sweep Abrar Ahmed and as he did so his right leg cramped, sending him hopping backwards in pain. Mohammad Rizwan threatened to stump him at this point, the kind of wicketkeeping behaviour that would send the Long Room at Lord's into apoplexy, but even in his agony Root did not offer his opponents an opening. The closest Pakistan came to dismissing him was via a review for lbw that was umpire's call on height, by which time he was on 168.