In Case You Missed It: England's historic day, Australia back to their dominant ways
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![Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook (clockwise from top left) all made hundreds, Pakistan vs England, 1st Test, Rawalpindi, 1st day, December 1, 2022](https://img1.hscicdn.com/image/upload/f_auto,t_ds_w_1280,q_70/lsci/db/PICTURES/CMS/350000/350050.3.jpg)
England's four horsemen of the run-pocalypse make it a day to remember • Getty Images
England made a historic start, plundering 506 runs on the opening day, with four batters - including Ben Duckett, who returned to Tests after six years - chipping in with hundreds. They are now the first side to score 500 runs on day one of a Test. England were helped by Pakistan's poor selection and ill-balanced bowling attack on a benign Rawalpindi surface.
Ahead of England's tour of Pakistan, Andrew Miller looked back at two contrasting but compelling tours between October 2000 and December 2005 and the history of controversy that has dogged meetings of the two sides. Mark Nicholas throws back to the Pakistanis he played against, from Majid Khan to Waqar Younis.
Smith spearheaded Australia's run fest, along with Marnus Labuschagne, with both batters' double-hundreds lifting Australia to 598 in the first innings. Alex Malcolm says Smith's recent changes have shown his hunger to get better even though he was still scoring consistently. West Indies' 283 in response was shored up by Tagenarine Chanderpaul's debut fifty, while Perth basked in the nostalgia of watching a Chanderpaul at the crease again.
India lost the New Zealand ODI series 1-0 after the two other games were washed out, but what cricket there was threw into sharp relief Shikhar Dhawan's struggles. And Karthik Krishnaswamy says while there are plenty of contenders for India to ring in changes, the challenge is to identify a select few and give them enough chances ahead of the World Cup. Meanwhile, the fallout from India's T20 World Cup exit saw the entire selection committee sacked, and Sidharth Monga says selecting selectors is an unglamorous job, and not one most eligible candidates would want to take.
Osman Samiuddin says by not always being one thing all the time since he retired, Akram has become omnipresent in a way that contrasts with how Imran Khan is famous.
The Otago batter spoke to Deivarayan Muthu about missing domestic cricket during the pandemic, and what he learned during his time with Lahore Qalandars at the PSL.
And which cricketer was nicknamed Lady Boom Boom? If you have a cricket question, Steven Lynch has the answer.
And how many teams has Mickey Arthur coached in men's internationals? Test your knowledge of coaches with our quiz.