England pummelled Zimbabwe on Day 1 of the four-day Test at Trent Bridge, scoring nearly 500 runs in a day’s play with all three of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope scoring centuries. England would want to bat only once and throw Zimbabwe into submission to kick off the home summer.
England’s top three of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope all scored centuries as the hosts massacred Zimbabwe’s bowling on a run-filled first day of the Test summer at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Thursday, May 22. Zimbabwe opted to bowl under the overcast conditions and that was the only thing that went in the visitors’ favour as it was one-way traffic after that. Crawley, Duckett, and Ollie Pope, who is 31 runs away from his second double-century, eased their way to respective hundreds to script history in Test cricket.
Crawley, Duckett and Pope became the first top three in Test cricket history to score centuries in the same innings twice. The trio pulled off the same feat in Rawalpindi against Pakistan in 2022 and overall, this was only the fourth instance of England’s top three scoring centuries in the same innings in a Test match.
England’s top 3 to score centuries in the same Test innings
vs South Africa, Lord’s 1924
vs Australia, Brisbane 2010
vs Pakistan, Rawalpindi 2022
vs Zimbabwe, Nottingham 2025
Crawley and Duckett stitched their third-century stand and the second-best (231) after a 233-run partnership in the Rawalpindi Test against Pakistan, nearly three years ago. The duo is inching closer to 2,000 runs as a pair and England were cruising their way after losing the toss. Zimbabwe finally broke the partnership in the 42nd over with Wessley Madhevere getting the breakthrough. Zimbabwe had to wait a long time between breakthroughs as every incoming batter would just pick up from where his predecessor would leave the innings.
Pope continued from where Duckett left off while Crawley completed his ton. Understandably, Crawley was the most cautious of the trio, looking to get back into some run-scoring form before the big India series. Pope continued in the same vein as Duckett, striking over 100, leaving no Zimbabwe bowler. It was a mismatch of the highest proportions.
Zimbabwe got wickets of Crawley and Joe Root, who completed 13,000 runs in the format, before the end of the day’s play, but England were already tiptoeing the 500-run mark and might want to bat for a session or two on the second day before declaring. For Zimbabwe, wickets are the only that can bring them back into the game. Can they?
