Steve Harmison has slammed Zimbabwe’s bowling performance on the opening day of their Test against England.
The Chevrons were blown away at Trent Bridge on Thursday as the hosts closed on 498-3.
GettyZimbabwe endured a difficult opening day against England at Trent Bridge[/caption] Ollie Pope was one of three players to score a century as he ended the day not out on 169GettyZak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope all scored centuries as England took control of the match.
Pope ultimately ended the day on 169 not out alongside Harry Brook.
Harmison did not hold back with his assessment of Zimbabwe’s display on the first of four scheduled days in the one-off Test.
The former Three Lions fast bowler told talkSPORT’s Super Over: “It was quite painful to watch.
“It was quite painful to commentate on because it was a bit like a first-class county playing a minor county and I mean that with all due respect.
“At the end of the day, this is a great day for Zimbabwean cricket. No matter how badly they performed, it’s a great day for Zimbabwean cricket because they’re back at a ‘big three’ Test ground in the opposition’s back garden.
“With what they’ve got coming up I hope it doesn’t derail them or dent their confidence going forward.
“They’re not going to win. They were never going to win, even in four days.”
Zimbabwe are set to face both South Africa and New Zealand in a pair of two-match Test series later this summer.
Blessing Muzarabani took the wicket of Joe Root for 34, but Harmison brutally admitted: “The best over of the day was probably the 85th over of the match and that’s without joking.”
talkSPORTHarmison brutally admitted Zimbabwe’s bowling was ‘difficult to commentate on’[/caption] GettyMuzarabani was one of several Zimbabwean bowlers to struggle for consistency[/caption]However, he did praise Zimbabwe’s fielding, adding: “I thought their fielding had energy. I thought extra cover mid-wicket, extra cover had real energy. A couple of times, the ball going through extra cover dived, stopped.
“There was energy in the field. There was a want to be against England in a Test match here.
“The bowlers just didn’t put two balls in the same spot consistently in a row and when you’re doing that it’s very hard to criticise a captain because he was trying to make it happen.”
As for captain Craig Ervine, he said: “You shouldn’t be setting fields for bad bowling.
“What you should be doing as a captain if the bowler is bowling that badly, you take him off.
“But unfortunately it was like a merry-go-round of bowers because they were all bowling so badly at times. There was no real way to stem the tide.”
Despite their poor day one display, Zimbabwe made an improved start to the second day as Pope fell for 171 early on Friday morning.
However, his dismissal came after England had passed the 500 runs mark in less than 90 overs.
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