ENG VS PAK - 3rd Test, Pakistan tour of England, 2020

Jimmy 600 -- He's battled remodelled actions, he's battled criticism of being only an English-conditions bowler, he's battled being "rested" at home, he's battled his teammates who've refused to hold on to edges. But his scriptwriter is what Nolan aspires to be. A virus, the rain, the light, nah, he was always getting there. They say it was only a question of when not if, but no, don't be silly, it wasn't of when either. It was fun then bringing you this entire summer, when cricketers turned frontline warriors for our joy, as I, Vineet Anantharaman, sign off on behalf of us other backbench warriors, Ramakrishnan MS, Hari Sadanandan, Sriram AS and Pradeep Krishnamurthy. Until some other cricketing board decides that this cricket in whites in the bubble is actually more fun, ta ta!!

Stats roundup by Deepu Narayanan

Most wickets in Tests (pacers):
J Anderson (ENG) 600
G McGrath (AUS) 563
C Walsh (WI) 519
S Broad (ENG) 514
D Steyn (SA) 439

England's first series win against Pakistan since the 3-1 win at home in 2010.
This is only the third time England have remained unbeaten in a series (2+ Tests) since Jan 2014.
2-0(3) vs SL 2016 (Home)
3-0(3) vs SL 2018 (Away)
1-0(3) vs Pak 2020 (Home)

Joe Root | Winning skipper: Very proud of the way we played throughout. It was a fantastic achievement for Jimmy (Anderson). To be able to stand up and perform in Test cricket over such a long period of time is a fantastic achievement. Credit to him. Absolutely see Broad and Anderson continuing for a long time for us. Crawley's work ethic, his game and how smart he is, I am not surprised at all with what he's done. To see him do it so early in his career and play with that maturity was magnificent. When you have players playing Test cricket, you want your boys to be performing as well as we have. It has been thoroughly enjoyable for us and I thank the teams (West Indies and Pakistan) for coming over for this.

Azhar Ali | Losing skipper: That one session in the first Test was the difference, but congratulations to England, they played that well and won the series. Positives for us as well, we played competitive cricket and did well. Obviously there is room for improvement even if you win the series. There are a few things you can do straightaway; proud of the boys. There was a lot of calm in the dressing room. In this game we were behind but everyone fought and it was the best result we could have got after how England batted us out of the game. It came in this final Test match, but it was an important innings for me and for my team. I was under a bit of pressure, and as a batsman you need an innings like that to get that confidence. I would like to thank the ECB and all the authorities for arranging this series on such short notice.

Mohammad Rizwan | Pakistan MoS: It is difficult for the keepers with the wobble here especially against the fast bowlers. But I did a few drills which helped. Before coming here I practiced against the hard ball and I practiced with tape balls. Rashid Latif helped me on how to release my body when it gets stuck and that's what I have worked on. It is difficult keeping to Yasir Shah and with Abbas seaming the balls. But it was difficult and I did well. I have focused on my batting. You must play five phases in a Test match, I did well in the second. Batting with the tail is important but that is the beauty of Test cricket.

Jos Buttler | England's MoS: Jimmy's variety and skills get him to stand out. And his longevity as a fast bowler. We were pretty sheepish, but he is a great guy. A great day, and a shame it wasn't a full house to see him do that. It is important to remind yourself; to keep that confidence when you're going well. I think any time I manage to hit on straight past the bowler, it is a good sign for me. Especially when you get one early on in your innings, this helps. It was the best pitch we had all summer and nice to build on it. Those two guys (Burns and SIbley) and then Pope and Crawley are exciting to watch. They can bat under pressure and it is delightful to watch with them taking pressure off you. Huge thanks to Pakistan and West Indies for coming in; looking forward to getting out of the bubble.

Zak Crawley | MoM: It's a great honour and I certainly don't see myself in that category with the players in this list [Highest run-scorers for England]. You are always nervous playing Test cricket, but thankfully when I got in I cashed in and made sure I got a big score. I found useful preparation for this series, you obviously want to play as many Tests as possible, but I did my best in the nets and it came off rather well. It is rare to score a hundred in any form of cricket, so when I got to a hundred I just wanted more. Yeah, I'm sure this will give me a lot of confidence going forward. It hasn't sunk in yet but hopefully I can build on it.

That Zak Crawley 267 seems like ages ago now. But it was him and Jos Buttler who set it all up perfectly towards the end of the first day and then through the second morning to make sure Pakistan didn't stand a chance. But then Azhar Ali made sure he wasn't sacked (or worse, dropped), Rizwan hung around solidly like's done all series, and Jimmy took over. He needed seven in this match for his milestone with no sight of when he'd get to do it next, and he knew, he just knew.

18:05 local: That's it. Handshakes. The new ball too isn't tempting enough for England to, errr... well, get Pakistan to do a Pakistan. When seen in the context of every dull draw there ever was in cricket's history, this one will take the cherry on the cake. But when there's someone for whom the rain stopped, the sun came, the groundsmen worked overtime, the umpires went easy on wet patches, everything just seamlessly falls into context. Yea, this was just that kind of a day. So much so that once The 600 was achieved, even the official scorers snoozed off to mess up the extras count. Never mind ..

Broad to Babar Azam, no run, outside off stump, ignored

Anderson to Fawad Alam, no run, tries to get bat on ball on the defence, misses

Anderson to Fawad Alam, no run, Alam plays inside the of this length ball and almost nicks off

Anderson to Fawad Alam, no run, covers the line, slightly opened and manages to defend

Anderson to Babar Azam, 1 run, leg-sidish ball, clipped off the pads into the on-side

Anderson to Babar Azam, FOUR, outside off stump, driven off the front foot through cover-point, more off the outer half of the bat

Anderson to Babar Azam, FOUR, full and down leg, clipped away through backward square leg

Broad to Fawad Alam, no run, too full and on off, punchy drive from Fawad to mid-on

Broad to Fawad Alam, no run, sprayed on the pads and it slides down leg as Fawad misses the flick