For England, it’s little more than a warm-up match ahead of much sterner examinations to come.
For Zimbabwe, it means everything.
Trent Bridge in Nottingham will host a four-day test match — something of a rarity for the usual five-day format but perhaps a sign of the future — from Thursday when England and Zimbabwe meet for the first time at international level in 18 years, since a Twenty20 World Cup match in Cape Town.
You need to go back four more years — to Chester-le-Street in 2003 when Jimmy Anderson, a 20-year-old with highlights in his hair, was playing in his first series — for the last test match between the teams.
Zimbabwe’s return to English soil continues the African nation's gradual reintegration to test cricket after two decades of political interference, poor governance and sanctions that resulted in the team being exiled from test cricket for around six years.
The Zimbabweans didn’t play a test from 2005-11. From 2022-24, they played just four tests. But between December last year and August this year, they’ll have played in 10 tests, with two-match series against South Africa and New Zealand to come this summer.
Zimbabwe still isn’t part of the World Test Championship but, in the bigger picture, progress is being made. Zimbabwe Cricket will receive a touring fee from the England and Wales Cricket Board for being the first test opponent of the summer, ECB chief executive Richard Gould confirmed last year while speaking about the “huge responsibility” to maintain the strength of bilateral cricket.
Zimbabwe isn't expected to offer much resistance to England, having slumped to a 138-run defeat to a Professional County Club Select XI in Leicester last week. Before that, however, it did earn a first test victory since 2021 — winning in Bangladesh on the way to sharing the series 1-1.
While Zimbabwe's view is very much about the present, England's sights will be on the future.
Ahead this summer is a five-test series against India and then an Ashes tour Down Under. For England, it doesn't get much bigger than that so the match against Zimbabwe will be important preparation, especially for a bowling department at the start of a new era following the test retirements of Stuart Broad (in 2023) and Anderson (last year).
For the Zimbabwe test, England will give a debut to Sam Cook, fellow pacer Josh Tongue is returning to the team after a two-year absence, and Gus Atkinson is about to start his second summer of test cricket. There are as many question marks about the only specialist spinner in the team, Shoaib Bashir, and the fitness of allrounder Ben Stokes, returning after a hamstring tear to regain the captaincy.
“I've got to be mindful of where I'm at and building myself back up to proper match workload for later on in the summer,” Stokes said Wednesday.
Then there's the batting lineup where opener Zak Crawley and No. 3 Ollie Pope have been retained despite continued speculation about their worthiness in the team. There's the welcome sight of a return for wicketkeeper Jamie Smith after missing the tour of New Zealand in November and December while on paternity leave.
England is No. 2 in the test rankings but coach Brendon McCullum said “there’s a lot of meat on the bone for us” in the next stage of the so-called “ Bazball ” era.
“When we took on a project like this, it was not about necessarily settling on ‘good,'" McCullum said. "I think now’s the time, working from a strong base, to be able to shoot for the stars and say, ‘Where can we take this team? What can we achieve?’”
The scheduling of a four-day test might be a blow to test purists but England home matches have rarely reached Day 5 under the leadership of McCullum and Stokes since 2022.
As for the Zimbabweans, they'll take whatever top-flight games they can on the long road back to cricket relevancy.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
FILE - England's Steve Harmison, center, celebrates his dismissal of Zimbabwe's Douglas Hondo, with teammates Robert Key, left, and Michael Vaughan, to give England a victory of an innings and 69 runs, in the second cricket Test between England and Zimbabwe at Chester-le-Street, England, Saturday, June 7, 2003.(AP Photo/Max Nash, File)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed revenge for Israeli attacks in a recorded message to the nation delivered as Iranian missiles flew toward Israel. Khamenei said the military was prepared to counterattack. “Don’t think that they hit and it’s over. No. They started the work and started the war. We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed.”
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. The following is AP's previous story.
Air raid sirens have sounded across Israel ahead following an Iranian missile attack on the country.
The rumble of explosions could be heard throughout Jerusalem, and Israeli TV stations showed plumes of smoke rising in Tel Aviv after an apparent missile strike. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The army said dozens of missiles were launched.
The army has ordered residents across the country to move into bomb shelters.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. The following is AP's previous story.
Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran's nuclear and military structure Friday, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to attack key facilities and kill top generals and scientists -- a barrage it said was necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon.
The ongoing military and intelligence operation raised the potential for all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval.
Iran quickly retaliated by sending a swarm of drones at Israel, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned of “severe punishment.” Iran had been censured by the U.N.’s atomic watchdog a day earlier for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Israel had long threatened such a strike, and successive American administrations had sought to prevent it, fearing it would ignite a wider conflict across the Middle East and possibly be ineffective at destroying Iran’s dispersed and hardened nuclear program.
But a confluence of developments triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack — plus the reelection of U.S. President Donald Trump — created the conditions that allowed Israel to finally follow through on its threats. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.S. was informed in advance of the attack.
Countries in the region condemned Israel's attack, while leaders around the globe called for immediate deescalation from both sides. The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday afternoon at Iran's request.
In a letter to the council, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the killing of its officials and scientists “state terrorism" and affirmed his country's right to self-defense. “Israel will come to deeply regret this reckless aggression and the grave strategic miscalculation it has made,” he said.
Israel's military said about 200 aircraft were involved in the initial attack on about 100 targets. Its Mossad spy agency positioned explosive drones and precision weapons inside Iran ahead of time, and used them to target Iranian air defenses and missile launchers near Tehran, according to two security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was not possible to independently confirm the officials' claims.
Among the key sites Israel attacked was Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, where black smoke could be seen rising into the air. It also appeared to strike a second, smaller nuclear enrichment facility in Fordo, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southest of Tehran, according to an Iranian news outlet close to the government that reported hearing explosions nearby.
Israel said it struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, too — though Iran didn't immediately acknowledge it — and that it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran.
Israel military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the Natanz facility was “significantly damaged” and that the operation was “still in the beginning.”
The first wave of strikes had given Israel “significant freedom of movement” in Iran’s skies, clearing the way for further attacks, according to an Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the attack with the media.
The official said Israel is prepared for an operation that could last up to two weeks, but that there was no firm timeline and it would depend largely on how Iran responds.
Among those killed were three of Iran’s top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Iran confirmed all three deaths, significant blows its governing theocracy that will complicate efforts to retaliate. Khamenei said other top military officials and scientists were also killed.
Netanyahu said the attack had been months in the making. In a video statement sent to journalists Friday, he said he ordered plans for the attack last November, soon after the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, one of Iran’s strongest proxies. Netanyahu said the attack was planned for April but was postponed.
In its first response Friday, Iran fired more than 100 drones at Israel. Israel said the drones were being intercepted outside its airspace, and it was not immediately clear whether any got through.
Israel’s military said it called up reservists and began stationing troops in “all combat arenas” throughout the country as it braced for further retaliation from Iran or Iranian proxy groups on its border.
Trump urged Iran on Friday to reach a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program, warning on his Truth Social platform that Israel’s attacks “will only get worse.”
“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire,” he wrote.
On Wednesday, the U.S. pulled some American diplomats from Iraq’s capital and offered voluntary evacuations for the families of U.S. troops in the wider Middle East. On Friday, the U.S. began shifting military resources in the region, including ships, as Israel prepared for more retaliation, two U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Officials in Washington had cautioned Israel against an attack earlier in the week, so as not to disrupt U.S. negotiations with Iran over its nuclear enrichment program. They stressed Friday that the U.S. had not been involved in the attack, and warned against any retaliation targeting U.S. interests or personnel.
Israeli leaders cast the attack as necessary to head off an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, though it remains unclear how close the country is to achieving that or whether Iran had actually been planning a strike. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.
"This is a clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed as he vowed to pursue the attack for as long as necessary to “remove this threat.”
Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East but has never acknowledged having such weapons.
Over the past year, Israel has been targeting Iran’s air defenses, hitting a radar system for a Russian-made air defense battery in April 2024 and surface-to-air missile sites and missile manufacturing facilities in October.
On Friday, Israelis rushed to supermarkets in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and elsewhere to buy bottled water and other supplies. But, otherwise, streets and parks were mostly deserted.
For Netanyahu, the operation distracts attention from Israel’s ongoing and increasingly devastating war in Gaza, which is now over 20 months old.
There is a broad consensus in the Israeli public that Iran is a major threat, and Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, a staunch critic of Netanyahu, offered his “full support” for the mission against Iran. But if Iranian reprisals cause heavy Israeli casualties or major disruptions to daily life, public opinion could shift quickly.
The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah issued a statement that offered condolences and condemned the attack, but did not threaten to join Iran in its retaliation. Hezbollah’s latest war with Israel — which killed much of the group’s senior leadership — ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November.
Khamenei, the Iranian Supreme Leader, said in a statement that Israel “opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to a crime in our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centers.”
Netanyahu expressed hope the attacks would trigger the downfall of Iran’s theocracy, saying his message to the Iranian people was that the fight was not with them, but with the “brutal dictatorship that has oppressed you for 46 years.”
“I believe that the day of your liberation is near,” he said.
The potential for an attack had been apparent for weeks as angst built over Iran's nuclear program.
Israel has long been determined to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a concern laid bare on Thursday when the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years censured Iran over its refusal to work with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site and install more advanced centrifuges.
Even so, there are multiple assessments on how many nuclear weapons Iran could conceivably build, should it choose to do so. Iran would need months to assemble, test and field any weapon, which it so far has said it has no desire to do. U.S. intelligence agencies also assess Iran does not have a weapons program at this time.
Once the attacks were underway, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem issued an alert telling American government workers and their families to shelter in place until further notice.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defense.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz was hit, and said it was closely monitoring radiation levels.
Trump is scheduled to attend a meeting of his National Security Council on Friday in the White House Situation Room.
Federman and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi, Amir Vahdat and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran; Melanie Lidman and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel; Matthew Lee and Eric Tucker in Washington; Bassem Mroue and Abby Sewell in Beirut; Edith Lederer at the United Nations and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Firefighters and people clean up the scene of an explosion at a residence compound after Israeli attacks in Tehran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A general view shows the mostly empty beachfront in Tel Aviv, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A man walks at the scene of an explosion in a residence compound in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Israel's Ben Gurion Airport is empty of passengers following an Israeli military strike on Iran, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Damage is seen in a building after an explosion in a residence compound after Israel attacked Iran's capital Tehran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Damage is seen to an apartment building after Israeli attacks in Tehran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Israel's Ben Gurion Airport is empty of passengers after all flights were canceled following an Israeli military strike on Iran, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Smoke rises after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. Israel attacked Iran's capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Residents watch a damaged apartment in Tehran, Iran, early Friday, June 13, 2025. Israel attacked Iran's capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Debris from an apartment building is seen on top of parked cars after a strike in Tehran, Iran, early Friday, June 13, 2025. Israel attacked Iran's capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A firefighter calls out his colleagues at the scene of an explosion in a residence compound in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises up after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
