Brook maintains stranglehold over Pakistan for dominant England

On the second day of the first test at Headingley, England's Harry Brook demonstrated his dominance against Pakistan by scoring 91 runs off 93 balls, extended his impressive record against the touring team and put his side into a commanding position. Brook's innings, which included 13 fours, helped England open a 195-run lead with two first innings wickets remaining.

Brook's average in his 12 test appearances against Pakistan was raised above 85 with this performance. Despite being dropped on one at second slip by Salman Ali Agha, Brook maintained his focus and scored 13 fours. He fell to Ali Usman, who finished with 5-92. Brook shared a fifth-wicket partnership of 120 with the recalled Dan Lawrence, who made 51 off 79 balls.

The partnership was formed after Lawrence came in after two years of absence due to Ben Stokes' retirement. Root and Cox batted well together, with Root scoring 66 and Cox 73, making a stand of 150 for the third wicket. Root played an lbw to Ali Usman, and Cox was caught behind after misjudging the length of a full ball from him.

The remaining wickets fell quickly, with Gus Atkinson and Ollie Robinson dismissing by successive balls in the 80th over. England, who were helped by some poor ground fielding from Pakistan, closed on 366-8. Despite England now having caretaker coach Marcus Trescothick in charge, the run rate was up with the Bazball era. Cox expressed his appreciation for Trescothick's approach, stating that the team has been enjoying playing their own style of cricket.

England now aims to score as many runs as possible in the second innings, with hopes of getting two wickets and encouraging a comeback from the batters to possibly save the test match.