Bennett dedicates century to vociferous Zimbabwe crowd as he scores a terrific 139 off 143 to lift tourists at Trent Bridge.
Brian Bennett dedicates century to the lively Zimbabwe crowd.
The chants being sung from the spectators at Trent Bridge made Brian Bennett feel completely at home as he got closer to reaching a historic century against England, even though it wasn’t Castle Corner at Harare Sports Club. Although they only numbered a few hundred of the 13,282 spectators in the stadium, Bennett’s parents and a small but raucous group of Zimbabwean fans filled the air with the sound of thousands more.
“I could hear them singing the war cries as we always hear at Harare Sports Club, so it gave me a little goosebumps,” Bennett said at the press conference afterwards. “The reception I got from the crowd was unbelievable.”
On their comeback to England after a 22-year hiatus, Zimbabwean supporters had little to celebrate over two exhausting days of cricket, but Bennett gave them hope that better times are ahead. In the past five years, Sean Williams, Craig Ervine, and Gary Ballance are among the players who have achieved hundreds in Test cricket. The final one has joined the coaching staff, while the first two are 38 and 39, respectively.
Bennett, 21, raising his bat to three figures twice in six months is a sign of things to come. In the future, Zimbabwean cricket may be less reactive and more proactive as they try to gain more prominence.
Bennett will undoubtedly play a significant role in the 11 Test matches that Zimbabwe has scheduled this year, even though they are not a member of the World Test Championship and are unsure of how they could be involved. He demonstrated his abilities at Nottingham, where he took on the task of purposefully answering to England’s first-innings score of 565 for 6 and recorded the fastest century by a Zimbabwean in Test cricket.
“If it’s in my area, I’m going to try and go for it,” he said. “It’s in my game plan, not too reckless and today it came off. Opening the batting in Test match cricket is probably where I want to bat. It gives me more freedom. There are more gaps in the field, and that suits my game. If I stick to my game plans, I can get the team off to a good start, and that’s what happened.”