NOTTINGHAM, England (Reuters) -England were closing in on a crushing victory over Zimbabwe at the close on the second day of the one-off test on Friday, despite opener Brian Bennett scoring the fastest test century for the African side.

The touring team finished on 30-2 in their second innings after following on, 270 runs behind the hosts, the 21-year-old Bennett dismissed for one following his fine knock of 139 in Zimbabwe's first-innings total of 265.

England earlier declared on 565-6 after pummelling Zimbabwe’s poor quality bowling to all corners of Trent Bridge.

Bennett led an initially positive reply as Zimbabwe, playing their first test in England in 22 years, reached 73-1 at lunch.

Captain Craig Ervine contributed 42 and Sean Williams made 25 but the last six wickets fell for just over 100 runs with Zimbabwe one batsmen short after seamer Richard Ngarava was unable to bat due to injury.

Spinner Shoaib Bashir (3-62) and home captain Ben Stokes, bowling in a match for the first time in five months, shone in England's attack with debutant Sam Cook toiling for his solitary wicket.

Stokes found movement on a dry pitch as he swung the ball both ways and took 2-11, also having Bennett dropped at first slip by Joe Root when he was on 89.

Bennett wasted no time in racing to his century with three successive boundaries bringing up the milestone off 97 balls.

He had a brief rest before coming back out for the last 45 minutes in Zimbabwe's second innings and was trapped lbw by Gus Atkinson, followed soon by Ervine for two when Zimbabwe's skipper was snagged at short leg by Ollie Pope off Josh Tongue.

Ben Curran (4) and Williams (22) were unbeaten at stumps with Zimbabwe facing a daunting task to save the match.

Rain is forecast on Saturday, which will give the English bowlers a sense of urgency as they seek to wrap up victory in the four-day match.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis and Ed Osmond)