Brian Bennett started his Test captaincy debut in style as the 22-year-old slammed a hundred to put Zimbabwe on top on day 2 of the first Test against Afghanistan on Friday, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Bennett was named as the captain of Zimbabwe after Richard Ngarva was ruled out of the ongoing two-match Test series against Afghanistan.
With an overnight score of 71 (128), started the second day from where he had left. The right-hander needed another 50 deliveries on Friday morning to reach his milestone with a boundary off Ziaur Rahman Sharifi in the 104th over. It was his third Test hundred for Zimbabwe.
At 22 years and 360 days, Bennett also became the second-youngest captain to score a Test hundred. Incidentally, Bennett’s maiden Test hundred had come also against Afghanistan, back in 2024 in Bulawayo. Last Bennett had scored a hundred against England in Nottingham.
In the process, Bennett became the fourth Zimbabwean to score a hundred on Test captaincy debut. Dave Houghton was the first Zimbabwe player to score a hundred on Test debut as captain in 1992. Notably, Houghton scored 121 in that game which was Zimbabwe’s first-ever Test match officially, against India at Harare Sports Club.
In the process, Houghton was Zimbabwe’s first-ever Test centurion. The other batters who scored hundreds on their Test debuts as captain for Zimbabwe were (2011) and Craig Ervine (2020), both against Bangladesh in away games.
At the time of writing, Zimbabwe are well placed at 421/6 at lunch on the second day. Earlier on the opening day of the Test match, Taylor scored a hundred to put Zimbabwe in driver’s seat, thus becoming the second-oldest player, at the age of 40, to score a Test hundred since the turn of the millennium. He scored 131 runs off 168 runs with 14 fours and four sixes.
It must be noted that the Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan Test series is not a part of the World Test Championship (WTC). According to the WTC rules, the top nine-ranked sides in the ICC Test Rankings are eligible to compete in WTC. While Zimbabwe are ranked 10th in ICC Test Rankings, Afghanistan are yet to get a ICC rank in the longest format.
