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England “lived up to” the wishes of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum on an “amazing day” against Pakistan, says batter Ollie Pope.
England became the first team to score 500 on the first day of a Test in the series opener in Rawalpindi.
They closed on 506-4 in 75 overs with Pope, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Harry Brook all making centuries.
“We really listened to what Baz [McCullum] and Stokesy have said,” Pope said. “It was an amazing day.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, he added: “The best thing is everyone has lived by how the two guys up top want us to play.
“They want us to entertain people.
“It is not about milestones. It is about putting on a show and putting the team in a good position. The fact everyone is so happy to buy into that puts us in a really good place.”
The series – England’s first Tests in Pakistan for 17 years – is England’s first overseas assignment since Stokes and McCullum were appointed earlier this year.
In the summer, the pair instilled a new, attacking approach to impressive effect as they won six out of seven Tests against New Zealand, India and South Africa.
But in dominating Pakistan’s bowling on a flat pitch they took that on even further, beating the previous record total of runs made on the first day of a Test – Australia’s 494 against South Africa in 1910.
Opener Crawley’s 122, Pope’s 108 and Brook’s 101 all came at better than a run a ball with Brook reaching three figures in 80 balls – the third fastest ton by an England batter.
Duckett’s 107 came from 110 balls and was part of a 233-run opening stand with Crawley in 35.4 overs.
The Nottinghamshire left-hander was playing his first innings since being recalled to the Test side after a six-year absence.
He said he had been inspired to take a more aggressive approach in domestic cricket after watching England earlier in the year.
“The real change was looking at this squad at the start of the summer,” he said. “I went back to playing with more freedom.
“I don’t think there will ever be a better environment to be involved in.
“I am sure there will be lots of cricketers desperate to be in this dressing room and I was one of them last summer. They allow you to play your game and play with freedom.”
Former Sri Lanka batter Kumar Sangakkara said the performance was “fantastic for English cricket and fantastic for the world game”.
“The traditional perspective England had has changed,” he told Sky Sports.
“Cricket has a new landscape and there is opportunity for a new kind of player to graduate from the shorter versions and into the red-ball format, not the way it has been traditionally done.”
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