Shoaib Bashir Creates History, Becomes Youngest England Bowler To....

Shoaib Bashir, on Friday (May 23), created history as he became the youngest bowler to take 50 Test wickets for England. The right-arm spinner achieved the historic feat on day two of the ongoing four-day Test between England and Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.

He reached the 50-wicket milestone by dismissing Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine in the 21st over. Sam Cook gave England the first breakthrough by dismissing Ben Curran for just 6 runs. Ervine and Brian Bennett then steadied the ship with a fifty-plus stand.

However, before the duo could bat Zimbabwe to a strong position, Shoaib Bashir broke the partnership by dismissing Ervine for 42 runs. Bashir picked up his 50th Test wicket in his 16th Test at the age of 21 years and 222 days.

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The record was previously held by former England fast bowler Steven Finn. Finn played 36 Tests for England and picked up 125 wickets.

Also Read: Vaibhav Suryavanshi's India T20I debut date announced after IPL heroics

Shoaib Bashir becomes the youngest England player to take 50 Test wickets 🔥

Well bowled, Bash 👏 pic.twitter.com/Z9NTrGMUvo

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) May 23, 2025

Talking about the game, Zimbabwe were on 96/2 when Bashir dismissed Ervine. Earlier in the day, England declared their first innings on 565/5. Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, and Ben Duckett scored centuries for the hosts while Harry Brook scored a half-century.

Pope top-scored for his side, scoring 171 runs off 166 balls. On the other hand, Crawley and Duckett scored 124 and 140 runs respectively. For Zimbabwe, Blessing Muzarabani picked up 3 wickets.

Shoaib Bashir's Test career so far:

Shoaib Bashir made his Test debut at the age of 20 last year during the Vishakhapatnam Test against India last year. He picked up four wickets on his debut before taking his first five-wicket haul in the very following Test in Ranchi.

Shoaib Bashir finished the Ranchi Test with an impressive 8 wickets to his name. He played a total of three Tests in the five-match series and picked up 17 wickets. Only Tom Hartley picked up more wickets than him for England during the series.

He has been a regular in the England Test side since then. After the series against India last year, he also played against the West Indies and Sri Lanka at home before touring Pakistan and New Zealand. Before the ongoing Test, Bashir played 15 Tests and picked up 49 wickets with the help of three five-wicket hauls for England.