England dominated the proceedings on day 1 of the One-off Test match between England and Zimbabwe that started in Trent Bridge from May 22.
By the end of the day, their batters were ruthless and put the Zimbabwe bowlers to the sword as they finished just two runs short of 500 on the opening day of the Test match.
Centuries from Ben Duckett (140 runs off 134 balls), Zak Crawley (124 runs off 171 balls) and Ollie Pope (169* runs off 163 balls) powered England to a mammoth 498 runs for three wickets.
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They scored runs in aplenty across the three sessions of the first Test match. In the first session, they scored 130 runs with both the openers going strong. Zimbabwe bowlers were wicketless in the first session as their seamers operated throughout the session.
In the second session, the England batters added another 165 runs with Duckett getting to his fifth Test century and Crawley going strong as well. The Zimbabwe skipper brought about their spinners in the second session with Wessly Madhevere picking up the key wicket of Duckett.
From there on, Pope and Crawley added another 137 runs together before Sikandar Raza, the Zimbabwe all-rounder, dismissed Crawley. Former England skipper Joe Root (34 runs off 44 deliveries) then joined Pope at the wicket. The duo added another crucial stand of 111 runs. The partnership was finally broken by Blessing Muzarabani in the 83rd over of the England innings. Harry Brook then stayed unbeaten on 9 off 18 balls as England finished just short of 500 runs.
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It was a tough day at the office for the Zimbabwe bowlers. They made a tactical error of not using the spinners inside the first session. To add to that, injuries to their premier pacer Richard Ngarava further took the zing out of the attack. From the second session onwards till the end of the game, Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine rotated his spinners to fill the absence of Ngarava.
Muzarabani and Victor Nyauchi gave away over 100 runs with the ball in their spell. The Zimbabwe spinners bowled a total of 29 overs and went for 144 runs picking up two wickets.
England To Aim 600 On Day 2
The England top three was severe against all the bowlers equally on day 1. Ollie Pope who is unbeaten on 169 will look to start fresh on Day 2 and possibly take England over 600 in the first innings. The Zimbabwe bowlers will look to control the scoring on day 2. They need to effectively bowl the opposition out to stand any chance of winning the Test match. The Zimbabwe bowlers took wickets in the 42nd, 66th and 83 over on Day 1.
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