Bashir takes six to seal England win over Zimbabwe

Only Test, Trent Bridge (day three of four)

England 565-6 dec (Pope 171, Duckett 140, Crawley 124; Muzarabani 3-143)

Zimbabwe 265 (Bennett 139; Bashir 3-62) & 255 (Williams 88; Bashir 6-81)

England won by an innings and 45 runs

Scorecard

Shoaib Bashir's six-wicket haul broke Zimbabwe's feisty resistance and led England to victory by an innings and 45 runs inside three days of the one-off Test.

Off-spinner Bashir claimed 6-81 at Trent Bridge, his best figures in Test cricket, to dismiss the tourists for 255 in their second innings.

As a tune-up for the challenge of India to come later this summer, the home side were not wholly impressive, particularly their seam bowling on the third morning.

On a lifeless surface, England collectively lacked penetration and were often loose, allowing Sean Williams to tuck in for 88 from 82 balls.

He added 122 for the third wicket with fellow left-hander Ben Curran, who survived two catch attempts and overturned being given lbw in his 37.

Bashir removed both either side of lunch. Although Sikandar Raza made 60, England chipped away at the other end.

The undoubted highlight was Harry Brook's spectacular catch at second slip to remove Wesley Madhevere, Ben Stokes' third wicket of the match on his return from hamstring surgery.

Bashir mopped up the tail. Already in this match, the 21-year-old had become the youngest England bowler to 50 Test wickets and this performance made him only the fourth to have three five-wicket hauls before the age of 22.

Bigger challenges ahead for England

This was England's first Test in five months, a curtain-raiser for the marquee series against India and Australia.

Even though there were moments when this meandered like a pre-season friendly, there were still positives for England to take.

England's 565-5 declared in the first innings included much-needed centuries for Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope. Bashir took a career-best nine wickets in the match and, crucially, Stokes looked fit enough to play a full role as an all-rounder.

There were times when the pace bowlers struggled, albeit in benign conditions. Sam Cook, on debut, did little to suggest England were wrong to overlook his strong domestic form for so long and Gus Atkinson was largely unthreatening. Josh Tongue, in his first Test for almost two years, was occasionally lively.

England can ponder their pace options for India, especially with Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse returning. A bigger decision will be whether to recall Jacob Bethell, and for whom.

A white-ball series against West Indies, under new captain Brook, begins on Thursday. Then come the 10 Tests that will define the tenure of Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.

Pacers miss chance but Bashir impresses

In a year when pace bowling will be so crucial to England's hopes, and with a number of seamers absent, those on show did little to press their claims.

The biggest opportunity was to Cook, who has been prolific for Essex. It would be harsh to write off anyone after one Test, and it could be that he picked a bad time to have a poor game. His average speed of 77.9mph was the slowest recorded by an England seamer since 2006 and was not compensated by accuracy.

Atkinson has credit in the bank after 52 wickets in 2024 and will surely improve, while Tongue showed glimpses of why England rate him so highly. In his three-Test career, he has been England's second-fastest bowler behind Mark Wood.

At least Stokes was able to get through three sprightly spells across the match, including bowling the first over on Saturday. When he returned in the afternoon, he found extra bounce to Madhevere and Brook clung to his flying one-hander.

Bashir was undercooked before this Test, being sent on loan from Somerset to Glamorgan. He improved the more he bowled, a fuller length and straighter line to better the five-wicket haul he took in this ground against West Indies last year.

The lbw to get Williams was fortunate and Curran surrendered, but the flight to Tafadwa Tsiga, who charged and was bowled, was delightful.

Blessing Muzarabani holed out and Raza sliced to slip. When Tanaka Chivanga was lbw, Bashir had the first six-wicket haul by an England spinner in a home Test since Moeen Ali in 2017.

Zimbabwe return with pride intact

Zimbabwe are attempting to rebuild their stature in Test cricket, with 11 matches this year. For all of their progress, victory here would have been perhaps the biggest upset in history.

In their first Test against England for 22 years, they were utterly outclassed on the opening day, but battled hard with the bat thereafter. Their supporters, dancing and singing throughout, brought joy to the occasion.

On Friday, Brian Bennett's 97-ball hundred broke Williams' record for the fastest in Test cricket by a Zimbabwean. On Saturday, Williams looked intent on claiming it back.

The left-hander slapped through the off side and pulled to leg, tucking into a flat England pace attack. He swept and reversed Bashir. At the other end, the steady Curran was put down by Stokes in his follow-through, survived a flying one-hander by the captain, then overturned being lbw to Bashir.

Williams was not so lucky with a review. Attempting to paddle Bashir, he was given out to a ball that would have shaved the bails. Just after lunch, Curran poked to cover.

Raza brought more defiance with a 57-ball half-century. Even as the wickets fell and an inevitable defeat was confirmed, it was the Zimbabwe fans that continued to fill Trent Bridge with song.

'Bashir comes of age' - what they said

England captain Ben Stokes: "It was good to get the summer off to winning ways. We were a little slow with the ball initially to get back into the game but then we were great from the last session of yesterday onwards.

"I felt really really good today, I felt in a good rhythm. I felt like it was coming out at a good pace which is something I wanted to work on.

"Another good week for me to get through, it gives me more confidence from what I already had."

Former England spinner Phil Tufnell: "Shoaib Bashir's just become a Test-match bowler.

"A lot of that is down to Ben Stokes who gets the best out of him. I can't understand why he can't do it against the county batsman. He seems to love the big stage.

"He could just work on that consistency a bit. He has bigger fish to fry coming up this summer. He just needs to know how to bowl a spell and develop a spell.

"He is so young and he has bags of talent. He just needs to learn that craft a bit as a spin bowler."

Bashir's new line of attack - analysis

By CricViz analyst Soham Sarkhel

An interesting bit of change in Shoaib Bashir's action is his release points.

When bowling over the wicket, he has moved around 5cm closer to the stumps in this Test compared to other home Tests. This change is even more pronounced when he has gone around the wicket, bowling almost 8cm closer to the stumps.

This change has impacted his lines essentially; earlier, 32% of his deliveries were down the leg side, but in this Test, it has only been 16%. His proportion of deliveries in the channel outside off has almost doubled in this Test compared to his previous home Tests.