Every record England broke as four players make tons against Pakistan

Records tumbled on an extraordinary first day of the opening Test in Rawalpindi as four England players scored centuries and Pakistan conceded more than 500 runs.

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook all made hundreds as England reached 506-4 from 74 overs in England’s first Test in Pakistan for 17 years.

It is the most runs ever scored on the first day of a Test and the first time England have scored four centuries on an opening day.

Crawley’s century came from 86 balls and was the fastest ever by an England opener. Brook’s came even quicker – from 80 balls – and threatened to break Gilbert Jessop’s 76-ball record for the quickest England century.

Crawley and Duckett shared a stunning 233-run opening partnership and recorded the fastest century stand by any pair of England openers in the process, coming in 13.5 overs.

The pair also took England to the highest score by any England side at lunch on the opening day of any Test.

England white-ball captain Jos Buttler told Sky Sports: ‘It’s been fantastic, hasn’t it? It’s been an absolute treat.

‘It didn’t look like hard work for them, they just played excellent cricket shots and put away the bad balls.’

Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara added: ‘I have played on a lot of flat pitches, but not done anything close to that in terms of run rate. All the players have done it with minimal effort.

‘They all played proper cricket shots. That’s a fantastic day of Test cricket, and all credit should go to the way England play.’

England’s record-breaking performance is even more impressive as there were talks the Test could be postponed by a day as a sickness bug ripped through the tourists’ squad.

Just five England players attended training on Wednesday, with the likes of Ben Stokes and James Anderson told to rest in their hotel rooms.

The ECB and PCB confirmed early on Thursday morning that the first Test of this three-match series would go ahead as planned and Stokes had no hesitation in batting first after winning the toss.

Crawley came into this series under some pressure after recording a string of low scores last summer, but the Kent opener made a bright start to his innings as England scored 14 off the first over.

Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf helped Pakistan reach the T20 World Cup final last month but quickly looked out of ideas in Rawalpindi as

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