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There were shades of the Thick Of It after Ben Stokes gave his press conference a day out from this one-off Test against Zimbabwe. When the minister – or in this instance the England captain – said Jacob Bethell would be straight back in for the series against India, this apparently referred to the squad and not necessarily the XI.
That Stokes sought to make this clarification through the back channels perhaps said more about the task at hand than England’s true thoughts on the subject. No captain would ever wish to send a player out believing whatever they achieved would be irrelevant, especially not a vice-captain and selfless cricketer such as Ollie Pope.
Either way, Pope was scarcely destabilised by the prospect of Bethell returning from the Indian Premier League and reclaiming the No 3 berth. Striding out with an already bumper 231 for one on the board, Pope peeled off a slick and unbeaten 169 from just 163 balls. Even factoring in a callow Zimbabwe attack that spent half the day a man down through injury, Test century No 8 can only have felt soothing.
Brought up with just over an hour remaining when he carved Sikandar Raza for four, Pope had also made the third century on a day of outright dominance for England that added up to 498 for three by stumps. First came Ben Duckett fizzing his way to his fifth hundred in Test cricket with 140 from 134 balls, then Zak Crawley matching that number with a more watchful 124 from 171. It was Crawley’s first time past three figures since the 2023 Ashes and the day he sent Pat Cummins into a tailspin at Old Trafford.
This being a rare four-day Test match, the follow-on mark is just 150 runs and, along with the possibility of some rain over the weekend, may explain why Stokes opted against one of his funky day one declarations. Although the England captain may have simply been enjoying watching Pope make merry during the final hour, the right-hander bringing out the uppercut to glorious effect in a session worth 203 runs.
It could have been a pretty deflating day for the Zimbabwe supporters on Trentside but after a 22-year wait to watch their side play a Test match in England, none seemed overly vexed on the way out. There was also something for them to cheer late on when Joe Root, freshly past 13,000 Test runs and looking ominous, holed out for 34 attempting to pull 6ft 8in Blessing Muzarabani over the long leg boundary.
Craig Ervine, their captain, electing to bowl under grey skies in the morning was also not quite as calamitous as the scoreboard suggested, with Stokes minded to do the same. It was simply too chilly for the Dukes ball to swing during the early exchanges, likewise the surface was too beige and the outfield too quick overall for England’s top order not to loosen their belts and tuck in.
By lunch England had raced to 130 for no loss from 26 overs. Muzarabani, heading in the opposite direction to Bethell after this Test with an IPL gig pending, showed glimpses of his talent, the odd ball testing Crawley and a return catch when the opener had 10 proving just out of reach. At the other end Richard Ngarava offered a left-arm angle but, like his partner, not enough consistency to build any pressure.
The most threatening seamer was probably Victor Nyauchi, a bustling medium-pacer who mixed up his angles well and flirted with Duckett’s outside edge after the first interval. But on a day when Zimbabwe needed plenty to go their way, this briefly tricky passage witnessed the precise opposite: Ngarava, running to stop a ball in the deep, suffered a nasty back spasm and soon left the field on a motorised stretcher.
The 231 runs that Duckett and Crawley compiled was England’s highest ever partnership against Zimbabwe, as well as the third highest by an English opening pair on home soil. It may not have been their most taxing but, coming at the start of a defining nine months for this England team, it offered a reminder of the chemistry that this little-and-large duo have struck up since they were first paired in late 2022.
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For Crawley it also changed the narrative surrounding his early summer form; form summed by the fact that, when he rocked back and pulled Muzarabani for four early on to reach eight not out, he had already made his highest first-innings score of the season. Thereafter it was mostly a cruise, a knock only ended when he missed a tired sweep and was lbw.
There were no such concerns regarding Duckett and on his home ground – a ground with dimensions practically designed for his punchy game – he purred his way to a run-a-ball century. In the end his downfall was self-inflicted, greeting the part-time spin of Wessly Madhevere with a four and six before slapping one straight to extra cover.
There was a scare for Pope first ball when Madhevere went up for an lbw. But when the follow-up delivery was scythed past backward point for four, England’s vice-captain was away. Whether the carnage wrought thereafter is enough to keep Bethell waiting remains to be seen but Pope has done his best to remain in the thick of it.
