Duckett, Crawley, and Pope's centuries give England a dominant day
Duckett, Crawley, and Pope's centuries give England a dominant day
Zimbabwe vs England: Day 1 scored 498 for 3 by England batters, the highest-ever score on day one of a test in England.
Ben Duckett smashed his fifth Test century, his first on home turf, reaching the milestone exactly at a run-a-ball. Zak Crawley, after 28 innings, finally bagged his first Test hundred since July 2023. Together, they built England’s highest home-opening partnershnip since 1960. Ollie Pope joined in with his third century at Trent Bridge, scoring against an eighth different opposition. England also racked up the highest-ever runs scored on the first day of a Test in England. If that sounds dominant, it absolutely was.
For Zimbabwe’s squad, it was a tough introduction. None had played a Test in England before, and many wouldn’t even recall the team’s last visit, 22 years ago. Their struggles had already shown when they lost to a County Select XI last week, but this match brutally exposed the vast gap between teams that play Tests regularly and those that don’t.
Captain Craig Ervine chose to bowl first under cloudy skies, but Zimbabwe’s bowling attack lacked control. Their struggles worsened when Richard Ngarava, one of their key pacers, left the field due to a back spasm just minutes into the second session. Though he came back briefly, his day’s contribution was limited to nine overs in the morning.
Blessing Muzarabani, Zimbabwe’s most threatening bowler, put in a solid shift with 20 overs, while Sikandar Raza bowled 24. But England’s top order was unshaken, balancing caution and aggression beautifully though their quick scoring rate of 5.66 made it look like pure attack.
Duckett and Crawley played cautiously early on, scoring just 19 runs in the first six overs. But Zimbabwe’s luck ran out quickly, as England’s batters picked up the pace. Crawley started with a powerful cover drive, followed by Duckett confidently taking on Muzarabani. When Tanaka Chivanga was introduced after 10 overs, his first over cost Zimbabwe 12 runs.
Chivanga found some swing, making Duckett briefly uneasy when he mistimed a drive, but there was no close fielder to catch it. Duckett responded by sending the next ball flying over the slips to bring up his fifty off 47 balls. Crawley reached his fifty soon after by nudging a couple through square leg, helping England to 130 for 0 at lunch.
After the break, Zimbabwe thought they had Duckett when Nyauchi’s delivery seemed to take an edge, but it was just a flick of his jumper. Duckett soon moved into the 80s, played stylish reverse sweeps and cuts to reach the 90s, and finally pushed a single off Raza to bring up his hundred.
Zimbabwe tried to stop Duckett, but he wasn’t slowing down. He smashed Chivanga over cover and then pulled a deep shot for the first six of the game. At 130, Zimbabwe had no answers, so Wessly Madhevere was brought in. Duckett immediately hit him for a four and then a six. Against the flow of the game, Duckett misjudged his next shot and was caught by Ben Curran at cover, giving Zimbabwe a rare smile. But as Duckett walked off, Ollie Pope stepped in to continue England’s charge.
Pope wasted no time he hit six fours in just 18 balls. By tea, he had raced to 49 off 46, while Crawley was on 93.
Pope reached fifty early in the third session. Crawley soon followed, edging a shot to bring up his hundred. His quiet celebration showed relief more than excitement, possibly signaling tougher challenges ahead. He added 24 more runs but was eventually trapped lbw while sweeping against Raza. Crawley reviewed, but replays confirmed it was hitting leg stump.
Pope kept going strong, hitting shots all over the ground. He brought up his hundred with a classy cut shot, making it his eighth century against a different team. Meanwhile, Joe Root hit another milestone, becoming the fifth player to reach 13,000 Test runs. Zimbabwe was struggling under all these records.
Zimbabwe took the second new-ball immediately, hoping for a breakthrough. Instead, it only gave England more scoring chances. Root smashed the first ball for four, then Pope added two more boundaries off Muzarabani to reach 150. To make things worse for Zimbabwe, Pope helped an inswinger over fine leg, ensuring England had scored 22 runs off just seven balls. But Zimbabwe finally got a small win Muzarabani bowled a surprise bouncer, and Root top-edged it straight to Sean Williams at fine leg.
That was Zimbabwe’s last success of the day. Pope and Harry Brook continued batting till the end, pushing England close to 500 runs. Pope remained unbeaten on 169 off 163 balls.