Pak vs Eng – Joe Root – Harry Brooks 317 is just the first of his “monster” scores

Root and Brook spent 86.1 overs batting together in a partnership worth 454, breaking the world record for fourth wicket and England's record for any wicket. Their stand set up England's lead of 267 and allowed them to push for an innings victory despite conceding 556 in their first innings on a dead pitch.

“I hope so,” Root said. “You want to create an environment and a team where things are constantly improving and getting better. You want the boys coming in to play with the belief that they can do really special things… If the boys break records in the future. “Then England will be in a good position and score a lot of runs, so hopefully that's it Case.

“I love playing with Brooky. I batted with him often in Yorkshire and it was great to see him come into that team and fit so seamlessly into Test cricket. To get the opportunity to be on the other end and watch him.” Go and Smack 300 is really quite surreal, and it's also pretty cool to get a big part of that score and partnership yourself.

“He has such a complete game. He can score around the wicket, he plays seam well, spins well and has high pace, and that's a pretty good recipe for scoring runs. I'm not at all surprised that he continues to do something special, but I don't think it will be the last time we see him with a monster score to his name.”

Brook was 18 when he first played alongside Root for Yorkshire and described him as “mega” to bat with. “You feel so comfortable watching him on the other end,” Brook said. “He makes the game look so easy when he bowls the ball so late and makes the bowlers look so slow… We just tried to capitalize on a good pitch.”

Root described Brooks' innings as a “masterclass” that reflected the progress he has made in his young career – not least the fitness drive that enabled him to put in seven hours in the middle. “One of the best things about Harry is that he learns so quickly,” Root said. “He actually always was.

“His natural game, how freely he scores and plays, particularly in the corridor off stump, is exactly what you expect from someone in the middle order: to be able to put pressure on the bowlers' best balls… That was “He doesn't really. “He takes a lot of risks and then he just puts his foot down and can turn 360 degrees, which makes it very difficult for both sailors and spinners to tie him down.”

Brook joked after his innings that there was a time not so long ago when he might have “made 150 and had a slog” rather than heading for one of the highest scores in England's history. But after missing the India tour and subsequent IPL following the death of his grandmother earlier this year, Brook used the time off to work on his endurance in training and Root admitted the benefits were obvious.

“He went out and worked extremely hard on his fitness,” he said. “That’s why you train: not just from a physical perspective to withstand it, but also mentally. If you do the training that you don't really want to do, you're going into the dark. “Once you've done it in practice, it'll be a lot easier when you get to it in the game because you've done it before. “

Root has played down the importance of his own status as England's leading runscorer, saying his ambitions go beyond that. “When I say that, I don’t mean it in an arrogant way or anything,” he said. “It just never really drove me. I’ve never been one to set goals because I just feel like if you miss them, you’ve failed.”

“The biggest factor for me is how many games we can win now for the rest of my career. How many games can you influence and contribute to with your bat? There's no better feeling than – especially in these conditions when it's heavily favored and so flat – potentially winning a friendly tomorrow.

“After that first innings in Pakistan, not many people would have asked us to go and do that. I guess that's what's exciting and what keeps you coming back and makes you want to come to training and have fun finding something.” Opportunities to get better are opportunities like tomorrow. I can't wait to show up again and hopefully do something special as a group.