England v Zimbabwe Only Test at Trent Bridge May 22-27

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1

OLLIE Pope hit an unbeaten 169  as England’s top  three batters hit centuries against Zimbabwe on the first day of their only Rothesay Test match at Trent Bridge after they were put in.

Both England openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley hit their fifth Test centuries with 

Duckett hit his first Test match century on his home ground of Trent Bridge, his second in  England and his fifth in total.  This one came from 100 balls with 15 fours.

In his 33rd Test match. On 104 he nearly gave a return catch to Victor Nyaughi but the ball fell just short of the bowler in his follow through.

Crawley hit his fifth Test century and his first since August 2023 at Emirates Old Trafford against Australia. His century came from 145 balls and included 12 fours.

Duckett and Crawley’s  opening partnership of 123   was their first century opening partnership since Ireland at Lord’s in 2023.  Duckett helped a short ball  from Tanaka Chivinga on its way over the  fine leg boundary for a six.  He stepped back to Sikandar Raza and cut him to the mid-wicket boundary.

Crawley said: “It’s been a great day  for us, with us three getting century’s, Joe Root passing 13,000 Test runs and I am pleased with my knock.  I love playing with this team and I’ve missed being around them.  I love batting and scoring runs for my country.

Today the pitch was a nice pitch to bat on and I wanted to bat as long as I could,  I now feel that I know my game better.  I’ve been working hard on my game.  I don’t feel that I am under pressure, all my cricketing life I’ve been playing with good players and they’ve helped me  to improve my game.

I love batting with Duckett and he takes a lot of pressure off me.”

Zimbabwe, playing their first Test in England since 2003 won the toss under cloudy conditions and put England in.  They  had an early chance when Crawley on 10  pushed Blessing Muzarabani just wide off his outstretched left hand. After that the first hour belonged to Crawley and Duckett and scored 67 the first hour.  Crawley lent into Chivinga and drove him to the cover boundary.

Not to be outdone, Duckett thumped to the long-on boundary. He uppercut Chivinga over the slips for one of his nine boundaries in his 14th Test 50  which came from 47 balls.

After hitting  Wessly Madhevere first two balls for a four and six he eyed another boundary from the third ball but instead he found Ben Curran at short extra cover.

brought up his 17th Test 50 from 76 balls with

Crawley tried to sweep Sikander Raza but missed the ball and was adjudged leg before by umpire Allahudien Paleker.  Crawley reviewed it and the replay showed it to be hitting. He faced 171  balls in 282 minutes.

Pope raced to 22 from 16 balls and the runs kept flowing with Crawley their 100 par came from 105 balls as it looked  like Ben Stokes would declare  the England innings early if not as early as Edgbaston in the last Ashes series but maybe at Lunch on the second day.

He became the third England player to reach his century when he cut Sikander Raza to the point boundary.  His eighth Test century came from 102 balls with 14 fours and a six.

England were helped by the absence of Muzarabani who  in  the second over after lunch pulled up in pursuit of the ball and had to leave the field in an undignified way in front of the groundsman’s truck.  It then became a game between men and boys even if Muzarabani had been fit Zimbabwe might have got a couple of more wickets.

Root top edged a bouncer from Muzarabani to Joe Williams at fine leg.  During the course of his innings Root passed 13,000Test runs.

Zimbabwe assistant bowling coach Charl Welloughby said: “It was a very tough day for us when we came here and saw the overhead conditions, we thought that the pitch would be slow so we are disappointed that we didn’t step up to the next level.  We were good at first then we struggled with the run rate.  Playing with a Dukes ball was always going to be a challenge.  It was a tough day for the bowlers but they tried hard but we have to improve our consistency.”

Day 2

ENGLAND need eight wickets on Saturday to wrap up an innings victory over Zimbabwe but realistically it could be seven as paceman Richard Ngarva was unable to bat in their first innings due to an injury.

Replying to England’s big first  innings of 565 and needing 316 to avoid the follow-on it would have been easy for Zimbabwe to fold but on the second  day they put on a performance which was far removed from their performance on the first day as possible. Leading the way was Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett.  Playing only his third Test match as an opener he  hit the fastest Test century for Zimbabwe from only 97 balls beating the previous fastest of 106 balls by teammate Sean Williams, which he did against New Zealand at Bulawayo against New Zealand in 2016.

Bennett hit Sam Cook for three consecutive fours to take through the nervous 90’s.  To  reach his third Test 50  he threw everything at Josh Tongue as the ball reached the cover boundary in the blink of an eye for one of his 10 boundaries in his first 50 which  came from 56 balls.    On 139 he was caught by Ollie Pope off Josh Tongue at short leg who took the catch one handed leaping to his left. But England’s celebrations  were muted when umpire Allahudien Paleker had called a no ball.  Without adding to his score, seven minutes later Bennett was caught by Pope at short leg off Tongue when the ball ballooned in the air.  This time the England players turned to look at umpire Allahudien Paleker, this time his finger was up.

Tongue earlier squared Bennet up and beat him all ends up but he couldn’t be moved. Bennett forgot about that and pulled the next ball to the square leg boundary.   Cook should have got Bennett, on 63, when he edged a drive but the ball went in the gap  between second and fourth slip.  Bennett hit consecutive boundaries of Shoaib Bashir: the first to the cover boundary and the second he swept to the mid-wicket boundary.  After adding 60 for the third wicket with Bennett, Williams was bowled by swept Shoaib Bashir arm ball after he had pulled the previous ball  to the  square leg boundary. 

Bennett said: “It was unbelievable and I enjoyed every moment and it’s my first time playing in England.  I see ball and hit ball, today it came off.  I like opening the batting in Test matches so I can get the team off to a good start.  I think that my knock today was one of my best knocks, to do it against England makes it really special and it will take something special to beat this.”

England batted on for 46 minutes on the second morning adding 67 in nine overs and losing three wickets.  Zimbabwe got an early breakthrough in the second over of the morning when Tanaka Chivinga kissed the edge of Pope’s bat and stumper Tafadzwa Tsiga took the catch. Disappointed by adding only two to his overnight score Pope decided to review it and the replay showed he had edged it.  The dismissal of Pope saw the entrance of Ben Stokes and the intent to push for the declaration though it was Harry Brook who took the lead.  He pulled Blessing  Muzarabani for consecutive sixes over square leg and was the last man out when Stokes declared when Brook  played on to Muzarabani for 58, with his 50 coming from 48 balls.  Stokes made only nine when he top  edged a pull off  Muzarabani to Ben Curran at deep fine leg. Muzarabani took three for 143. 

The first target for Zimbabwe was 416, in a four day test match the follow-on is reduced to 149.  Cook opened the bowling on his Test Match debut with four slips and a gully.  He took his first Test wicket when Curran tried to turn him to leg the ball left him taking a thick outside edge and Brook at second slip took a comfortable catch. Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine got off the mark with a cover drive off Cook and despite a couple of near misses both him and Bennett made it to lunch   without any further loss. But after lunch they both became bogged down by Tongue  but it was the slow left arm spinner Shoaib  Bashir who got the breakthrough. He got one to turn away from the left hander Ervine and Brook at slip took a low catch.

On three Sikandar Raza blasted Shoaib Bashir straight back to the bowler and despite diving to his right  and gettingan hand to it Shoaib Bashir could’nt hold on to it and had to leave the field.  Hi over was  completed by Stokes. Bowling for the first time in a Test match since before Christmas, Ben Stokes took two wickets in 11 balls   With his hair looking more blonde than ginger and longer Stokes looked Errol Flynn playing General Custer in the film ‘They Died With Their  Boots On’. He should have  had a wicket almost immediately, but Joe Root dropped Bennet at first slip.  In his first full over Stokes squared Sikandar up and moved the ball away and Jame Smith took the catch. Stokes got one to swing back into Madhevere took his inside edge and on to the middle stump. Shoaib Bashir said: “When he gets the ball you know that something is going to happen.  Him being the fourth seamer makes a massive difference to our team.”

Shoaib Bashir was brought back into the attack and he bowled Tsiga with his first ball  when he bowled him through the gate. Shoaib Bashir added: “Its every off-spinner’s  dream to bowl someone through the gate.  It was good to be back in the England team.  Its always nice to put on an England shirt on, I feel about 10 feet tall with the backing that I get.  I thought Bennett batted really well and I liked the way he constructed his innings.” 

Gus Atkinson got his first wicket of the innings when he hit  Chivanga full on his boot after England had reviewed it.  In his next over    Muzarabani,  backed away  and was bowled through the gap.

Following-on 300 behind Zimbabwe lost their first wicket in the third over when centurion Bennett was trapped on the crease by Atkinson and was adjudged leg before.  Bennett reviewed it and was given out.  Ervine got a leading edge to Tongue and the ball popped up to Pope at short leg.  This time there was another look back to the umpire.

Day 3

SHOAIB Bashir took his first six wicket Test haul to end with match figures of nine for 143 as England beat Zimbabwe by an innings and 45 runs with over a day and a session to spare at Trent Bridge.

England and Shoaib Bashir had to wait until 16 minutes before lunch before they took the first wicket of the day.  Until then Sean Williams and Ben Curran had resisted the England bowlers as Curran demonstrated they shall not pass attitude while Williams seamed bent on taking back the Zimbabwe record for the fastest Test century  which he held until yesterday afternoon. 

But it was Curran who was nearly dismissed first.  He was adjudged leg to Shoaib Bashir by umpire Kumar Dharmasena after an eternity and it took Curran almost as long not  review it.  When he saw the replay Curran thought he was out and almost set off to the hutch.  But the replay showed the ball to be going over. Shoaib Bashir did get his first wicket in his next over when Williams was given out.

Williams reviewed and the replay showed it to be umpires call.  For Zimbabwe to get to 16 minutes before lunch was  quite an  achievement as many spectators thought they would be on their way home before lunch.  By lunch they had added 111 for the  loss of Williams.After lunch it started to unravel for Zimbabwe. Curran loosely chipped Shoaib Bashir to Ben Stokes at short cover. 

Sikandar Raza had a big swing at Shoaib Bashir which he missed and the ball deflected from stumper Jamie Smith and on to Harry Brook’s forehead at slip.  Brook never flinched or had a trainer on and neither did the ball have to be replaced. Sikandar Raza continued to bat in the way that has thrilled spectators in the PSL and taking his lead Wessly Madhevere joined in Sikandar Raza as they added 65 in 11 overs until the partnership  was  broken in the most spectacular manor. 

Madhevere threw his bat at Stokes and appeared to be flying over the slips until Brook stuck out his right hand above his head and caught the ball. England captain Stokes said: “It was exceptional I thought it was  going for a four and then Brook’s hand came from nowhere  and latched on to it.  I had the best view of it in the house and it was a really impressive catch.” Tafadzwa Tsiga was  bowled by a wonder ball  from Shoaib Bashi.  Shoaib Bashir got the ball to spun past Tsiga and Shoaib Bashir seemed to berate Smith for missing a stumping then everybody saw that the leg bail had been moved.

Blessing Muzarabani went for a big hit of Shoaib Bashi but found Joe Root a few yards in from the mid-wicket boundary. Brook took his second slip catch of the innings but this one more mundane compared to his spectacular earlier catch to dismiss Sikandar Razza for 60.

It was fitting that Shoaib Bashir should wrap the innings up when he trapped Tanaka Chivanga leg before with one that kept low. Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine said: “On the first day we weren’t up to par and with our big quicks we didn’t get enough balls in the right areas enough times. When you do get it in the right areas you ask a lot of questions of the batters and unfortunately we couldn’t dot that which made it difficult to control the scoring.  Our goal was not to let them score too quickly or we would be under pressure.  Batting wise we got ourselves into decent positions, a couple got starts but we couldn’t kick on from there. The guys have learned a lot from their time here so it would be stupid for guys to go back and not learn from their experience.”

Stokes added: “It was good to get a big score after been out in under overcast conditions. Once Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley got in they put on a big stand for which they are known for and set us up nicely. Overall, it was a really good team performance and it sets us up nicely for the Test series against India.

 

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