TOP SPIN AT THE TEST: Ollie Pope beats Ian Botham’s 21-year-old record, Joe Root becomes just the 11th player to reach 11,000 runs in Test cricket and Ben Duckett tops Don Bradman with run-a-ball 150 at Lord’s
England ended day two at Lord’s in an extremely comfortable position, having declared at 524 for losing just four wickets in a high-scoring day in North London.
The bulk of those runs came from Ollie Pope – who hit the second-fastest ever double century by an England batsman, second only to captain Ben Stokes – and Ben Duckett who scored 182.
Josh Tongue came on the attack on the first substitution and delivered three wickets for England to really get his Test career off the ground.
The visitors made little progress in chasing down the 352 runs they needed to break even, losing three wickets and seeing James McCollum retire hurt.
Here, Lawrence Booth from Mail Sport takes you through some of the best stats from another exciting day at Lord’s.
England have put themselves in a very comfortable position after another dominant day
England took a further three wickets after their mammoth innings to leave Ireland on 97 for three
Ollie Pope’s first Test double century came off 207 balls – the fastest in a Test in England, beating Ian Botham’s 220-ball blitz against India at The Oval in 1982.
It was the second fastest for England anywhere after Ben Stokes took just 163 balls against South Africa in Cape Town in 2015/16, and seventh fastest in all Tests.
Joe Root became the 11th to reach 11,000 Test runs, and second for England, behind Alastair Cook, who has 12,472.
Ben Duckett broke Don Bradman’s record for the fastest Test 150 at Lord’s, getting there with exactly one run a ball.
Bradman had taken 166 to reach the target in 1930 — a figure matched by Pope on Friday.
England’s 524 for four declared from 82.4 overs came to a run rate of 6.33 – the first time in this country that a Test innings longer than 25 overs has gone faster than a run a ball.
England have enjoyed only two higher second wicket stands at Lord’s than Duckett and Pope’s 252.
Joe Root became only the second English man – and eleventh ever – to reach 11,000 runs in Tests
England have enjoyed only two more prolific second wicket partnerships than Duckett (left) and Pope against Ireland
In 2004 Andrew Strauss and Rob Key added 291 against the West Indies, and the following summer Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan added 255 against Bangladesh.
Pope became the seventh England batsman to score 2,000 Test runs before the age of 26, after Peter May, David Gower, Mike Atherton, Ian Bell, Alastair Cook and Joe Root.
This is the first time since Madras in 1984-85 that each of England’s first three wickets has added at least 100 in the same innings.
At the time, Graeme Fowler and Tim Robinson started with a score of 178, followed by 241 between Fowler and Mike Gatting, then 144 between Gatting and Allan Lamb.