8 Test hundreds vs 8 countries: England’s Ollie Pope sets world record with century against Zimbabwe | Cricket News

England No. 3 Ollie Pope set a new world record after the Bazballers had a field day on the first morning of the cricket summer at home against Zimbabwe on Thursday.
Batting first on Day 1 of the four-day Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England piled on a massive 498 for three in 88 overs with the top-3 of the Ben Stokes-led side all gathering centuries. While opener Ben Duckett slammed a century in as many balls on his home ground, a struggling Zak Crawley got some runs under his belt with relatively slower 124 off 171 balls.
But it was England’s No. 3 Pope who set the headlines after his senior batting partner Joe Root nudged past 13,000 Test runs.
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Pope’s record century sta(r)t
Pope waltzed to his eighth Test century in 109 balls and set multiple records as he crossed the three-figure mark. Despite his middling Test average, Pope recorded his seventh hundred at No.3, putting him level with Jonathan Trott among English batters in the spot. Only legends Wally Hammond, Ken Barrington and David Gower have racked up more Test centuries for England at No. 3.
More curiously, Pope’s eight centuries have all come up against different oppositions. The 27-year-old extended his own world record to become the first batter to record his first eight Test hundreds against different countries.
Pope became the 30th Test batter to record centuries at least against eight different countries and could even equal the record should he hit a century in the Ashes later this year.

Most Test hundreds against different teams

Player
Team
Total centuries
No. of opposition teams

Sachin Tendulkar
India
51
9

Jacques Kallis
South Africa
45
9

Ricky Ponting
Australia
41
9

Kumar Sangakkara
Sri Lanka
38
9

Rahul Dravid
India
36
9

Brian Lara
West Indies
34
9

Younis Khan
Pakan
34
9

Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
34
9

Kane Williamson
New Zealand
33
9

Steve Waugh
Australia
32
9

Matthew Hayden*
Australia
30
9

Gary Kirsten
South Africa
21
9

Adam Gilchr
Australia
17
9

Marvan Atapattu
Sri Lanka
16
9

Angelo Mathews
Sri Lanka
16
9

Dinesh Chandimal
Sri Lanka
16
9

Alastair Cook
England
33
8

Shivnarine Chanderpaul
West Indies
30
8

Hashim Amla
South Africa
28
8

Inzamam-ul-Haq
Pakan
25
8

Mohammad Yousuf
Pakan
24
8

Ian Bell
England
22
8

Ross Taylor
New Zealand
19
8

Michael Vaughan
England
18
8

Dimuth Karunaratne
Sri Lanka
16
8

Herschelle Gibbs
South Africa
14
8

Thilan Samaraweera
Sri Lanka
14
8

Kraigg Brathwaite
West Indies
12
8

Ashwell Prince
South Africa
11
8

Ollie Pope
England
8
8