Ruthless England rewrite history books with fastest team-fifty in Test cricket
England set Trent Bridge alight with a severe form of Bazball, shuffling the pages of history.
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Bazball in progress, image courtesy: X
Bazball took flight in its spookiest avatar as England set a new record of scoring the fastest team fifty in the history of Test cricket. Despite losing Zak Crawley for a bronze duck, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope came hacking away, propelling England to their collective half-century within just 4.2 overs, rewriting the record books.
It was the second Test match of the series and England sniffed blood right from the word ‘go.’ Ben Duckett clobbered 33 off just 14 balls while being accompanied by Ollie Pope who smashed 16 off nine balls, being the key architects of the English rampage up front.
There was a total of ten fours from the English batters in this whirlwind that saw them add another glistening chapter to their already bedecked laurels. England held the record for the two fastest fifties in Test cricket before this, the first one coming against South Africa in 1994 at the Oval while the second one came against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford in 2002.
The one against South Africa saw England smash their collective fifty in just 4.3 overs while the one against Sri Lanka saw them amassing this feat in just five overs. However, rewriting the feats emphatically at Trent Bridge, the collective half-century saw England do the unthinkable in just 4.2 overs.
A glance at the series so far between England and West Indies
The first Test match between the two teams saw England steamroll West Indies by an innings and 114 runs. Known for the farewell of James Anderson, England rode high on some impeccable bowling from debutant Gus Atkinson who registered figures of 7/45 in the first innings and 5/61 in the second.
Zak Crawley and Jamie Smith were the key architects in penning a monumental score in the solitary innings that England batted in, once again posting a prime example of Bazball.
At the time of writing, England were stationed at 194/3 from just 38 overs as Ollie Pope continued to call the shots, being unbeaten for 75 from just 114 balls while Ben Duckett fell for a 59-ball-71. Despite the fall of Joe Root early enough, Harry Brook called the shots, batting on 30 off just 25 balls. If England seizes this game, they will go onto win the series with a game to spare.
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Rohit Ganguly
(511 Articles Published)