Zak Crawley's marathon innings was brought to an end by the unlikeliest bowlers on Saturday evening. Part-time spinner Asad Shafiq managed to get him stumped this ending his innings on 267, which is now part of the all-time top-10 scores by an England batsman in Test cricket — above the likes of Geoffrey Boycott, Joe Root, and Ben Stokes. But besides the incredible knock that stretched over four sessions and two days, the other factor that added to Pakistan woe at the Ageas Bowl was the epic fifth-wicket stand of 359 runs between Crawley and Jos Buttler that itself broke a plethora of records.
359 runs stitched by the pair is now the highest fifth-wicket stand for England in Test cricket, surpassing the previous best of 254 between KWR Fletcher and AW Greig against India in 1973.
4th The partnership is also the joint-fourth highest fifth-wicket stand in Test cricket in the world alongside Bangladesh's Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan (against New Zealand in Wellington in 2017). They are preceded by SG Barnes and Don Brandman's 405 against England in 1946, GS Blewett and Steve Waugh's 385 against South Africa in 1997 and Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman's 376 against Australia in 2001.
6th The stand is now England's sixth highest partnership for any wicket and second highest in this century after Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes' 399-run stand for the sixth wicket against South Africa in 2016, which is also the second-highest English partnership for any wicket.
9th The partnership is now the ninth highest stand in England and fifth-highest by a home pair after 411 by MC Cowdrey and Peter May (against West Indies in 1957), 382 by Len Hutton and M Leyland (against Australia in 1938), 370 by D Compton and WJ Edrich (against South Africa in 1947) and 369 by K Barrington and JH Edrich (against New Zealand in 1965).
