England, courtesy of their openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley reigned supreme in the second session of the one-off Test between England and Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge on Thursday, May 22.
Starting the second session on 130 runs for no loss, the hosts reached 295 runs for the loss of one wicket. Duckett ( 140 runs off 134 balls) and Crawley (93* runs off 139 balls) added 213 runs for the first wicket.
The openers pummelled the Zimbabwe bowlers who continued to attack the England batters with pace. That helped them score the runs quickly and at a good economy rate as well.
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Zimbabwe began the second session with spin, bringing in Sikandar Raza as the first spinner. He bowled 11 overs in the second session and went for 47 runs. Finally, Zimbabwe managed a wicket in the second session with off-spinner Wessly Madhevere breaking the partnership. He dismissed Ben Duckett on 140 runs to give his side a sigh of relief.
The visitors thought that they can rest control in the game with the opening breakthrough but that did not happen. Ollie Pope scored 49 runs off 46 balls and added 64 runs off 69 deliveries since the dismissal of Duckett. Crawley continued in his merry way as he stayed unbeaten on 93 runs, hitting 11 fours in his innings. Pope, who is one short of the fifty-run mark has already hit eight.
It was a tough session for the Zimbabwe bowlers who gave away 165 runs in the session, managing to take just one wicket. Both the batters are closing in on personal milestones once the final session resumes. It is expected that once they get to that, both batters will unleash and look to score as much as they can in the final session.
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England look poised to score between 400-450 runs by the end of the day. If that eventually happens, Zimbabwe will be down and out very early in the Test match. The gulf between the two teams is very much visible in this Test and Zimbabwe with their inexperienced bowling attack is being taken to the sword by the England batters.
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