Brian Bennett bags multiple records with century against England

NOTTINGHAM: Zimbabwe’s opening batter Brian Bennett on Friday, shattered a handful of records by smashing a brisk century in the one-off Test against England, underway here at Trent Bridge.

The hosts, batting first in the solitary fixture, piled up a mammoth 565/6d in the first innings, courtesy of centuries from each of their top three batters – Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope.

The visitors, in response, got off to a dismal start as they Ben Curran in the fifth over with just 31 runs on the board.

But Bennett showcased resilience and tamed the English bowlers to score a fighting century in just 97 balls – the fastest by a Zimbabwean batter in Tests.

The right-handed batter also became only the third Zimbabwean batter to score a Test century against England, while the first in 25 years to achieve the milestone.

Murray Goodwin was the first Zimbabwe batter to score a Test century in England when he scored an unbeaten 148 in the first innings of the second Test in 2000, played at the same venue.

Furthermore, Brian Bennett also broke into the Top 10 of the list of most Test centuries by Zimbabwe by smashing his second hundred.

Legendary Andy Flower leads the elusive list with 12 centuries.

Notably, Zimbabwe were bowled out for 265 in 63.2 overs, 300 runs short of England's first innings tally.

Bennett remained the top-scorer for the Chevrons with 139 off 133 deliveries, studded with 26 boundaries.