Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley created history vs Zimbabwe |courtesy - England Cricket Board
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley gave England a dream start
- The pair have been opening the batting for England since 2022
- England's top three scored centuries in the one-off test
England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett started the home Test summer in style as both players scored centuries in the one-off four-day Test match against Zimbabwe on the first day of play at the Trent Bridge Cricket Stadium in Nottingham.
The dynamic opening made Zimbabwe regret their decision to bowl first in what is their first Test match against England in 22 years. Duckett showed no mercy as he took the attack to the Zimbabwe bowlers with a knock of 140 in just 134 balls. Crawley played a much more measured innings and put a poor run of form in Test cricket behind with a knock of 124 in 171 balls.
The duo put up a 231-run opening stand before Duckett was dismissed by Wessly Madhevere in the 42nd over of the match.
Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley Create History
Duckett and Crawley's partnership came at a run-rate (RR) of 5.56, which makes them the first pair in history to score multiple 200+ opening partnerships at a scoring rate of above five. The duo hold the record of the quickest partnership of more than 200 runs (by an opening pair). The England openers put up a 233-run stand against Pakistan at Rawalpindi in 2022 at a RR of 6.53.
Herschelle Gibbs, Virender Sehwag, and Graeme Smith were involved in multiple such partnerships but they came with different partners. Sehwag is the only player to be involved in three partnerships of more than 200 runs at a scoring rate above five.
200+ Opening Partnerships With RR Greater Than 5
| Player |
Runs |
Run-Rate |
Opponent |
Year |
| Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett |
233 |
6.53 |
Pakistan |
2022 |
| Jack Burns, David Warner |
237 |
6.29 |
New Zealand |
2015 |
| Ab de Villiers, Graeme Smith |
217 |
6.22 |
Zimbabwe |
2005 |
| Virender Sehwag, Murli Vijay |
221 |
5.64 |
Sri Lanka |
2009 |
| Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag |
233 |
5.63 |
Sri Lanka |
2009 |
| Zak Crawley Ben Duckett |
231 |
5.56 |
Zimbabwe |
2025 |
| Ed Cowan, David Warner |
214 |
5.51 |
India |
2012 |
| Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid |
410 |
5.33 |
Pakistan |
2006 |
| Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith |
368 |
5.30 |
Pakistan |
2003 |
| Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya |
281 |
5.25 |
Zimbabwe |
2004 |
| Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten |
256 |
5.03 |
Zimbabwe |
2021 |
Sehwag and Dravid were also involved in multiple double-century partnerships, coming at a scoring rate of more than five per over but while one came as an opening pair, the other came for the second wicket. Overall, Crawley-Duckettt and Sehwag-Dravid are one of five pairs to have multiple 200+ partnerships at an RR above 5 alongside Rishabh Pant-Ravindra, Micheal Clarke-Michael Hussey and Adam Gilchrist-Matthew Hayden. Gilchrist and Hayden are the only pair to to have three such partnerships.
