England notched up their highest total in 86 years, thanks to Harry Brook’s triple century and Joe Root’s double ton, declaring on 823/7 before Pakistan collapsed to a perilous position on the fourth day of the first Test on Thursday.

Pakistan’s top order failed to get going in the second innings and the hosts ended day four on 152/6, trailing England by 115 runs as the tourists set themselves up for a famous win after a Herculean batting effort.

“There’s very much a chance of a result in this game. We’ve got still got a lot of hard work to do but off the back of the way that we’ve played so far in this test match, we’ve got a real opportunity tomorrow if we get things right,” Root said.

Pakistan’s Salman Agha (40) and Aamer Jamal (27) were at the crease at stumps, with England in the driver’s seat heading into the final day in Multan.

With England leading by 267, Chris Woakes steamed in and took a wicket off the first ball as a fatigued Abdullah Shafique, who had been on the field for 150 overs, played a tired shot as the fast bowler rattled his off stump.

Gus Atkinson then got in on the act with the wickets of skipper Shan Masood and Babar Azam, whose poor form continued with the batsman not having scored a 50 in nine Tests.

Brydon Carse also dismissed Saim Ayub with his first ball when the set batter played a poor shot for a catch before the debutant cleaned up Mohammad Rizwan with a delivery that nipped back in to leave Pakistan reeling at 59/5.

Saud Shakeel was caught behind off Jack Leach before Agha and Jamal stitched together an unbeaten 70-run stand.

Resuming on 492/s3, England went past Pakistan’s 556 to build a handy first-innings lead of 267 runs thanks to Brook’s 317 after Root’s 262 as they ground the tired hosts to dust on another hot day.

It was the highest score for both batsmen during a 454 run-partnership — the fourth-highest in Tests — on the flat track at the Multan Cricket Stadium while also the highest partnership in England’s Test history.

“The way Harry’s played, how quickly he was able to score once he got past 200, has put us in such a strong position,” Root added.

“We’re dealing with conditions alien to us, we don’t play in heat like this very often, there are different skills you need to manage — like the reverse swing — slightly different balance to what you get back in the UK.”

Root eventually departed lbw during the second session to one that kept low from Agha. Brook, however, moved through the gears to score the second-fastest triple ton of all time in 310 balls and became the sixth Englishman to achieve the milestone.

Brook’s marathon innings finally ended when a miscued sweep off Ayub went straight to Masood.