England vs Pakistan, 2020: 3rd Test, Day 1 – Crawley's maiden Test hundred, A rare home Test ton by England's No.3 and more stats

England made a steady start in the last Test of the 3-match series against Pakistan with a total of 332/4 by stumps on the first day. Zak Crawley, who walked to bat at No.3, kept finding boundaries regularly to make scoreboard ticking along. Crawley batted for nearly two sessions with Jos Buttler (87*) after the Pakistan bowlers had the game in their control at to 127/4. Crawley-Buttler pair shared an unbeaten stand of 205 for the 5th wicket in only 51 overs. The Kent batsman got to his maiden Test ton and finished the day unbeaten on 171 which included 19 fours.

Here are all the statistical highlights from the opening day’s play of the Southampton Test match:

A big stand between Crawley and Buttler:

2010 – The unbeaten 205-run partnership between Zak Crawley and Jos Buttler is England’s first double century stand for the 5th or lower wickets in a home Test since 2010.

The previous such stand came during the 2010 Lord’s Test when Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad shared a 332-run stand for the 8th wicket also against Pakistan. England had a 200+ partnership for the 5th wicket as well during that series Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan put on 219 at the Trent Bridge.

A big maiden century for Crawley:

22y 200d – At the age of 22 years and 200 days, Zak Crawley became the youngest No.3 batsman of England to score 150+ runs in a Test inning. Overall, only three players were younger than Crawley by the time of their maiden Test 150+ score for England – Len Hutton [22y 58d; 364 vs AUS in 1938], Michael Atherton [22y 81d; 151 vs NZ in 1990] and David Gower [22y 103d; 200* vs IND in 1979].

171* – Zak Crawley’s unbeaten 171 is now the highest individual score in Test cricket at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. He went past Ian Bell’s 167-run knock came during the 2014 Test match against India. Crawley’s innings, however, is the 2nd highest individual score in International cricket as Martin Guptill scored an unbeaten 189 during the 2013 ODI against the hosts.

A rare home Test ton by England’s No.3:

2 – Crawley’s ton is only the 2nd century by an England No.3 in Test cricket since the start of 2015. The other hundred came off Joe Root scored his career-best of 254 in the 2016 Manchester Test also against Pakistan.

End of Root’s losing streak at the toss:

6 – Joe Root won his first toss in a home Test since the Headingley Test against Australia last year. Root led England in six Tests between these two at home but lost tosses in all those six matches. However, during this period, Root won tosses in all the six Tests which were played outside England.

Root @ 1000:

1010 – Runs Joe Root has amassed in Test cricket across 12 Tests against Pakistan. He is now the only the 3rd England player after David Gower (1185) and Sir Alastair Cook (1719) to aggregate over 1000 Test runs for England against Pakistan.

Yasir’s century with the ball:

21 – Yasir Shah now has conceded 100+ runs in a Test innings on as many as 21 occasions. Danish Kaneria (39) and Abdul Qadir (26) are the only Pakistan players who conceded 100+ runs in a Test innings more often than Yasir Shah.