In dream-like conditions but under nightmare circumstances, Joe Root battled cramp, fatigue, and the risk of dehydration throughout an entire day at the crease, taking a joyful yet painful step into history. Among the three concerns for the 33-year-old—heat, his body, and his opponents—the latter posed the least challenge as he surpassed Alastair Cook to become England's all-time leading run-scorer, helping his team make Pakistan's formidable first-innings total seem less daunting. By the close, England stood at 492 for three, trailing by 64 runs, with Root on 176 and Harry Brook not far behind on 141. The question had shifted from whether Root would score a century to how many he might achieve.

Towards the end, Root could barely walk, let alone run, and having been on the field for all but eight balls of a match played in sweltering temperatures—he had spent eight hours and one minute at the crease—his discomfort was understandable. This was one of those scorching days where the sweetest part of reaching triple figures might have been the chance to remove his helmet for a while. When he was on 86, he attempted to sweep Abrar Ahmed, causing his right leg to cramp and sending him hopping in pain. Mohammad Rizwan threatened to stump him, a move that would have caused uproar in the Long Room at Lord's, but even in his agony, Root did not give his opponents an opening. The closest Pakistan came to dismissing him was through an lbw review that was deemed umpire's call on height, by which time he was on 168.

Throughout his innings, Root formed partnerships of 109 with Zak Crawley, 136 with Ben Duckett, and an unbroken 243 with Brook. Despite England's success, it was hard to fault the bowlers, who toiled valiantly but in vain on a surface that was unforgiving to the point of cruelty. Earlier this year, Root had jokingly mocked Brook for calling him 'grandad,' but it almost seemed fitting as he dragged himself up to the dressing room at tea, 119 runs and 187 balls into his innings, using his bat as a makeshift cane while Brook bounded ahead of him, leaping up the steps two at a time. However, youth offered no protection from these conditions, and just 15 minutes after the restart, Brook was flat on the ground with a cramped right leg, attended to by the physio.

Brook's record in Pakistan now borders on the absurd. This is England's second Test tour of Pakistan in two years, but if the 25-year-old continues this form, he might not be invited back for a while. This is his sixth innings here, and he has only once failed to score at least a half-century, with four of his six Test tons coming in Pakistan. This hospitable nation might start to feel Brook is taking liberties. Long before the end, Pakistan was relying on freak occurrences and accidents for wickets, but even these did not come to their aid. When Brook was on 75, he defended a ball from Aamir Jamal that bounced off the ground, hit his chin, and then rebounded into the stumps, but by that point, the bails were too worn to move.

The day began with Crawley in sublime form, continuing from Tuesday evening, and he had scored 78 off 85, including 13 fours, when he guided an innocuous delivery from Shaheen Shah Afridi straight to Aamer at short midwicket. This dismissal continued Crawley's remarkable record, having reached the 70s six times since his 189 against Australia at Old Trafford without progressing further. In his Test career, he has now been dismissed for scores of 73, 73, 76, 76, 76, 77, 78, and 79, with nothing in between and 121. His departure brought out Duckett, whose participation had been in doubt after nursing an apparently dislocated left thumb the previous day but who appeared on Wednesday morning to join the squad's customary game of pig on the outfield before play. Despite his injury concerns, Duckett batted with remarkable ease, particularly against Abrar Ahmed's spin. He scored so quickly that although Root was on 34 when he came to the crease, and added a relatively swift 30 off his next 37 balls, it was Duckett who hit a thick edge over slip for four to overtake him. He had accumulated 84 off 75 when Aamir trapped him lbw, and Root made his one poor decision of the day by advising him to review.

By the end of the third day, the average batter in this match had scored 78.53. Never in the past 100 Test matches, dating back two and a half years, has the average exceeded 60. This kind of surface makes results less likely than records, and there might be a few more to come.