England launched their home season with an innings and 45-run thrashing of Zimbabwe in a one-off Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A match scheduled for four days was all over before tea on the third, with England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir taking a Test-best 6-81 after Zimbabwe were made to follow-on.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But what is the importance of such a result for England ahead of the sterner challenges that surely await them in an upcoming five-Test series with cricket powerhouse India?<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Below AFP Sport examines three key talking points that emerged from a largely lopsided contest in Nottingham.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Stokes underlines his all-round worth<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n If Ben Stokes's Test career continues on its present path -- a batting average of 35 and a bowling average of 32 -- some future fans may wonder what all the fuss was about.<\/p>\r\n\r\n But the raw figures alone will never tell the whole story when it comes to the England captain's priceless ability as a game-breaker.<\/p>\r\n\r\n At Trent Bridge, the all-rounder was playing his first game of the year in any form of cricket following his latest bout of hamstring surgery.<\/p>\r\n\r\n He rushed back from a similar injury last year and was unable play a full part with the ball.<\/p>\r\n\r\n But in Nottingham, with Zimbabwe in relatively comfort at 187-3 in their first innings, it was lively seam and swing bowler Stokes who took two wickets for no runs in 11 balls to leave the tourists struggling at 199-5, with the follow-on now all but assured.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Stokes' performance was perhaps the biggest plus point for England out of the whole game.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Not only is he an inspirational figure in his own right, Stokes' sympathetic treatment of Bashir was also central to the bowler putting a poor start to the county season behind him with a match-clinching return.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Top-order cash in<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n Several things can be true at once: It was a welcome sign for England that all of their top three batsmen made hundreds in a huge first-innings total of 565-6 declared that paved the way for victory.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Yet it was equally true those runs were scored on a good pitch against an utterly outclassed Zimbabwe attack that was further weakened when paceman Richard Ngarava left the field with a back injury after bowling just nine overs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Nevertheless, openers Zak Crawley (124) and Ben Duckett (140) have often been accused of a lack of ruthlessness, while vice-captain Ollie Pope's 171 came amid speculation his place at number three was under threat when Jacob Bethell returns from franchise duty in the Indian Premier League.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Crawley's hundred was just his fifth in 54 Tests.<\/p>\r\n\r\n But Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum's faith in the 27-year-old Kent right-hander appears unshakeable, with his stunning Ashes 189 at Old Trafford two years ago still fresh in the memory of team management as they build towards a 2025\/26 Test series in Australia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Pace project concerns<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n England have set great store in assembling a battery of fast bowlers, but the likes of express quicks Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Olly Stone -- none of whom played in Nottingham -- have too often been injured.<\/p>\r\n\r\n And there were few reasons for any India batsman to be unduly worried by how England's pace trio at Trent Bridge -- Sam Cook, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue -- struggled to impose themselves on a placid pitch where 21-year-old opener Brian Bennett broke the record for the fastest Test hundred by a Zimbabwe batsman with a 97-ball century.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Test debutant Cook, an unusually conventional pick by the current England set-up in that his selection was a reward for years of consistent county form with Essex rather than an educated 'hunch' finished with match figures of 1-119.<\/p>\r\n\r\n