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Powerful England's All-Round Show Makes Zimbabwe Succumb To Innings Defeat

Arnav Chopra

ENG vs ZIM (Source: @englandcricket/X.com)ENG vs ZIM (Source: @englandcricket/X.com)

In what turned out to be a dominant, one-sided show, the hosts England completed a comfortable victory over Zimbabwe by an innings and 45 runs. In the four-day Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, England rolled over Zimbabwe after some outstanding performances with both bat and ball.

Here, we sum up the report of the entire England vs Zimbabwe four-day Test, as it panned out at the Trent Bridge, Nottingham.

England's Top Order Destroy Zimbabwe's Bowling Line-Up

After making them bat first on a chilly morning in Nottingham, the England top-order outmuscled Zimbabwe's bowlers as they went on to pile runs. Zak Crawley scored 124, while Ben Duckett’s 140 helped England post 231-run for the first wicket stand as they lost their first wicket in the 42nd over. Ollie Pope, the one-down batter, was even better than these two, scoring 171 to take England to 368 when they lost their second wicket in the form of Crawley.

Joe Root came in and played a knock of 34, while Harry Brook scored a blazing half-century knock to put up 58 after his name. England batted beautifully to post 565 on the board for the loss of six wickets, after which they declared after playing a total of 96.3 overs.

Zimbabwe's bowlers tired out, with Blessing Muzarabani taking three wickets but gave away 143 runs in 24.3 overs at an economy of 5.8, while the rest of the bowlers weren't up to par against the English batting lineup.

Brian Bennett's Century Knock Couldn't Save The Visitors From Following On

With 565 on the board, Zimbabwe were always behind the score. They lost their opener, Ben Curran, for six in the fifth over with just 31 on the board. Brian Bennett, the other opener, took the opportunity and showcased his muscle, scoring 139 of 143 deliveries with 26 boundaries.

However, this was a lone highlight, while the rest of the batting lineup faltered against the English bowling lineup, with skipper Craig Ervine being the second-highest scorer with 42. Except for Sean Williams, Tafadzwa Tsiga, and Blessing Muzarabani, none of the other batters could even get to the double-figure mark as Zimbabwe were eventually rolled over for 265 in 63.2 overs, with Shoaib Bashir picking a three-wicket haul.

Bashir's 6-fer Help England Register Innings Victory

The Chevrons were then asked to follow on, as they were 300 runs short of England's score in the first innings. The first innings hero, Brian Bennett, couldn't do much, as he was found in front of the stumps by Gus Atkinson for just one, while Ben Curran could only manage 37 this time around.

Sean Williams (88) and Sikandar Raza (60) gave some hope, but it was never going to be enough as in their second innings, while following on, Zimbabwe were cleaned up for a score 10 less than their score in the first innings, which is 255, as they only managed to bat for 59 overs, handing England a comfortable victory by an innings and 45 runs, with Shoaib Bashir being the hero again, picking six wickets for just 81 runs in his 18 overs.

And hence, England registered victory in the lone four-day Test that happened between these two sides after more than two decades.