New Delhi: The marathon innings from England captain Alastair Cook in the first Test against Pakistan finally ended after 190 overs of play in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
Cook made a patient 263 off 528 in 836 minutes to help England post a strong reply to Pakistan's first innings total of 523/8d on a flat top. In the process, the 30-year-old left-handed batsman set many records, including the longest innings in England Test history.
But the opener from Gloucester felt short of his first ever Test triple hundred by 37 runs. He had previously missed out the feat by mere six runs in August 2011, against India in Birmingham.
Pakistan's batting hero in the first innings, Shoaib Malik removed Cook off the first delivery of 191st over, with Shan Masood taking completing the catch at backward square leg. By then, England have gained a 26-run lead with little over a day's play left in the match, which will effectively end with a dull draw.
His 13 hours, 56 minutes stay in the crease was the third longest in Test history by any player. He is also the second only batsman after West Indies great Brian Lara to bat for 12+ hours twice in their respective careers.
The record for longest innings is in the name of Pakistan's Hanif Mohammed. who batted for 970 minutes (337 runs) against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1957-58.
Second longest innings record is held by South African opener Gary Kirsten, who batted for 878 minutes (275 runs) against England at Kingsmead, Durban in the third Test of the 1999-2000 series.
During the 2011 Birmingham Test, Cook batted for 12 hours and 52 minutes.
On Thursday, Cook completed his 28th Test hundred and surpassed the 1000-run-mark in the calendar year for the fourth time to equal Kevin Pietersen's English record.
It was also Cook's eight Test hundred in Asia, a record -- for the highest number of centuries scored by a non-Asian player -- which he shared with South African legend Jacques Kallis.
