England hammered Zimbabwe by an innings and 45 runs in a one-off Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir took a Test-best 6-81 as Zimbabwe, following-on, was dismissed for 255 on the third day in what was the African nation’s first Test in England in 22 years.
Bashir’s second five-wicket haul at Trent Bridge, following his 5-70 against the West Indies last year, gave him match figures of 9-143.
Sean Williams (88) and Ben Curran fell to Bashir either side of lunch with Sikandar Raza’s breezy 60 merely delaying England’s win.
England laid the platform for victory in the opening match of its 2025 home season with a commanding first-innings total of 565-6 declared, that saw its top three of Zak Crawley (124), Ben Duckett (140) and Ollie Pope all score hundreds.
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Although opener Brian Bennett struck Zimbabwe’s fastest Test hundred, off 97 balls, in reply the tourist was still dismissed for 265, with England captain Ben Stokes taking two wickets in his first match in any kind of cricket this year.
Bashir, whose two First-Class wickets this season had cost an average of 152 apiece, put some indifferent county form behind him with 3-62 in the first innings.
Stokes’s side next faces India in a five-match series starting in June.
Zimbabwe returns to the Test arena with a two-match series at home to neighbours South Africa in June and July.