Ollie Pope extends unique world record with century in Zimbabwe Test

NOTTINGHAM: England’s top-order batter Ollie Pope extended his unique world record with a century against Zimbabwe during the ongoing only Test here at the Trent Bridge.

Pope, who played a marathon 171-run knock in the first innings of the only Test, became the first-ever batter to score the first eight centuries against different nations in the longest format’s history.

He was also the first to score the first seven centuries against as many different nations.

Prior to his monumental knock against Chevrons, Pope had scored a Test century against Pakistan, Ireland, India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies.

Overall, Pope is the 30th player to score centuries against at least eight different teams in Tests.

Only 16 players, including India’s batting great Sachin Tendulkar, Pakistan’s Younis Khan, West Indies’ Brian Lara, Australia’s Ricky Ponting, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, scored centuries against nine different teams in the format.

The right-handed batter has a vital opportunity to break into the elusive list by scoring a century in the Ashesh, scheduled to be played later this year.

Furthermore, Ollie Pope also drew level with Jonathan Trott in the list of most Test centuries for England while batting at No.3.

Only Wally Hammond, Ken Barrington and David Gower have more hundreds for England at No.3 in Tests.

For the unversed, his sensational knock, coupled with rampant centuries from openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley powered England to 565/6 before skipper Ben Stokes decided to declare the innings.

When this story was filed, Zimbabwe were 151/2 in 31 overs, trailing by a further 414 runs with Brian Bennett and Sean Williams, unbeaten on 80 and 20 respectively.