Bennett scores fastest ton for Zimbabwe but Stokes keeps up pressure

NOTTINGHAM, England :Opener Brian Bennett scored an unbeaten century to help Zimbabwe reduce the deficit to 355 runs as they reached 210 for five wickets at tea on the second day of the one-off test on Friday in reply to England’s imposing first-innings score.

But the return to the England bowling line-up of captain Ben Stokes brought immediate reward as he took a couple of wickets before the end of the second session at Trent Bridge to expose the Zimbabwe tail and keep his side firmly in control of the contest.

Bennett scored the fastest test century by a Zimbabwean, achieved in 97 balls, in an impressive display of aggressive batting but he was helped by a dollop of good fortune when he was dropped on 89.

The 21-year-old floated up a ball from Stokes to first slip where the usually reliable Joe Root let it slip through his hands.

Bennett then bludgeoned three successive boundaries in the next over to reach three figures and will return after tea on 122 along with Tafadzwa Tsiga, who has yet to score.

The young Zimbabwean opener hit three boundaries in the first over off debutant Sam Cook and was aggressive as the visitors looked to put behind them an attritional opening day for their bowlers on Thursday.

But Cook did get a first test wicket as he squared up Ben Curran (6), whose thick edge steered the ball to Harry Brook at second slip to be the first Zimbabwean wicket to fall before lunch.

Another sharp catch from Brook, this time off spinner Shoaib Bashir, saw captain Craig Ervine dismissed for 42 in the second session, followed by Sean Williams, who got a thick inside edge to an around-the-wicket delivery from Bashir to depart for 25.

Stokes, bowling in a match for the first time in five months, then produced a snarling