Who holds highest team total in Test history after England scored mammoth 823 against Pakistan?

Pakistani bowlers were smashed for 823 runs by England during the 4th day of the first Test in Multan.  Harry Brook scored a memorable triple ton while Joe Root scored his career-best score of 262 as the visiting side piled on the pressure. Both the batters added 454 runs for the 4th wicket in 519 balls. 

The 823/7 scored by England is the 4th highest Team total scored in Test cricket history. Sri Lanka holds the highest-ever team total in this format of the game. Arjuna Ranatunga’s men had scored 952/6 from 271 overs during the 1997 Colombo Test against India. 

Interestingly, England holds the record for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th highest team total in Test cricket history. This is also the first time any team has scored over 800 runs in Pakistan. The previous best was 765/6 scored by Pakistan during the 2009 Test match against Sri Lanka in Karachi. This is also the first time any team has scored over 800 runs in this century in Test cricket. 

Harry Brook and Joe Root make merry in Multan 

Pakistan bowlers had to wait for a long time before dismissing Joe Root in the 137th over. The former England captain was out for 262 runs from 375 balls with the help of 17 hits to the fence. This knock is his best innings in the longest format of the game going past the 254 he had scored in Pakistan during the 2016 Test in Manchester. 

Harry Brook kept going great guns as he reached his first-ever 300 in Test cricket. The right-handed batter was finally dismissed for 317 runs from 322 balls with 29 fours and 3 sixes. At one stage it looked like England would look to go past Sri Lanka’s record score of 952 as more than 50 overs were left to be played. 

Both the batters fell to part-time bowlers as Agha Salman dismissed Root, while Saim Ayub got the wicket of Harry Brook. England’s 823 from 150 overs is also the fastest in terms of run-rate in the history of Test cricket. The previous best was Australia scoring at 5.01 runs per during the 2003 Perth Test against Zimbabwe where the home team scored 735/6 from 146.3 overs. 

Top 5 highest team totals in Test cricket 

952/6 – Sri Lanka vs India – Colombo -1997

903/7 – England vs Australia – Oval -1938

849/10- England vs West Indies – Jamaica- 1930

823/7- England vs Pakistan – Multan -2024

790/3 – West Indies vs Pakistan – Jamaica -1958