It's open season for runs this week as both England and Australia rung up the numbers against Pakistan and Australia. Despite half the squad being felled by a virus days before the start of the Pakistan series and unsure of even having a full team to field in the first Test, England's seemingly comical XI broke a long-standing record. In Australia, young Tagenarine Chanderpaul's Test debut was overshadowed by a back-in-form Smith-Labuschagne combine who racked up 400-plus between them. All this and more in our weekly round-up.
Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Brook centuries in record-breaking romp
England made a historic start, plundering 506 runs on the opening day, with four batters - including Ben Duckett, who returned to Tests after six years - chipping in with hundreds. They are now the first side to score 500 runs on day one of a Test. England were helped by Pakistan's poor selection and ill-balanced bowling attack on a benign Rawalpindi surface.
Rise and fall of an English dynasty in just five years of Pakistan Tests
Ahead of England's tour of Pakistan, Andrew Miller looked back at two contrasting but compelling tours between October 2000 and December 2005 and the history of controversy that has dogged meetings of the two sides. Mark Nicholas throws back to the Pakistanis he played against, from Majid Khan to Waqar Younis.
Back to the future: the remaking of Steven Smith
Smith spearheaded Australia's run fest, along with Marnus Labuschagne, with both batters' double-hundreds lifting Australia to 598 in the first innings. Alex Malcolm says Smith's recent changes have shown his hunger to get better even though he was still scoring consistently. West Indies' 283 in response was shored up by Tagenarine Chanderpaul's debut fifty, while Perth basked in the nostalgia of watching a Chanderpaul at the crease again.
Is it time to start talking about Shikhar Dhawan's strike rate?
India lost the New Zealand ODI series 1-0 after the two other games were washed out, but what cricket there was threw into sharp relief Shikhar Dhawan's struggles. And Karthik Krishnaswamy says while there are plenty of contenders for India to ring in changes, the challenge is to identify a select few and give them enough chances ahead of the World Cup. Meanwhile, the fallout from India's T20 World Cup exit saw the entire selection committee sacked, and Sidharth Monga says selecting selectors is an unglamorous job, and not one most eligible candidates would want to take.
At 56, Wasim Akram is turning his thoughts to his legacy
Osman Samiuddin says by not always being one thing all the time since he retired, Akram has become omnipresent in a way that contrasts with how Imran Khan is famous.
Dean Foxcroft returns to New Zealand with big hits after two-year exile
The Otago batter spoke to Deivarayan Muthu about missing domestic cricket during the pandemic, and what he learned during his time with Lahore Qalandars at the PSL.
Who was the first player to score a double-hundred in all List A cricket?
And which cricketer was nicknamed Lady Boom Boom? If you have a cricket question, Steven Lynch has the answer.
Who won the IPL in 2008 as a player and in 2009 as coach?
And how many teams has Mickey Arthur coached in men's internationals? Test your knowledge of coaches with our quiz.