England have started their Test summer with a win after they coasted to a comfortable win over Zimbabwe in the third day of the one-off Test match at Trent Bridge.
Off spinner Shoaib Bashir was named player of the match. He took 3-62 in the first innings and 6-81 in the second for a career-best match figures of 9-143.
Room for improvement
Speaking to Test Match Special after collecting his award, Bashir feels he still has to work on certain aspects to his game.
He said: “I went on loan to Glamorgan at the start of the season, just to get some overs under my belt. It was nice to join up with the England boys and bowl in front of an English crowd.
“There’s always room to improve, I want to work on my consistency, especially when you come up against right-hand/left-hand, it takes me a while to ease into my spells.”
Zimbabwe’s fight fizzles out
After 21-year-old Brian Bennett created history on Day 2 of the Test by smashing Zimbabwe’s fastest Test century in 97 balls, the team crumbled under the pressure of chasing a huge first innings total.
Bennett top-scored with 139 but has no real support at the other end as Zimbabwe were skittled for 265, short of England’s first innings total by 300 runs.
England had no problems enforcing the follow on as the African side were looking to avoid an innings defeat.
The veteran pair of Sean Williams (88 of 82) and Sikandar Raza (60 of 68) did put on a fight for the touring side.
However, off-spinner Bashir broke the 122-run third-wicket partnership of the duo and snapped both their wickets before cleaning up the tail.
Zimbabwe were all out for 255 in the second innings before the Tea break as England made the perfect start to the summer.
India tour of England
England have had the best warm up possible ahead of their gruelling home series against England, which begins on June 20.
The Indian team will sport many new faces as they start a new era under a new captain.
Shubman Gill was named captain of the Test side earlier today, as he is set to take over the reigns from Rohit Sharma.
Rishabh Pant was named his deputy while Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran both received their maiden call-ups.
Karun Nair returns to the Test fold after last playing for India in this format in 2017.
