Day4: Australia win by 10 wickets
At the afternoon drinks break, Zimbabwe were 198 for two wickets and making Australia fight every inch of the way for victory. Perhaps those drinks were spiked, but Zimbabwe afterwards were completely unrecognisable as the same team. The last eight wickets, many of them to soft dismissals, fell for only 32 runs as what looked like being Zimbabwe's greatest fightback degenerated into the worst batting collapse in their 34-match Test history. During the day it was announced that Tests between the two teams would be played for the Southern Cross Trophy, and Australia's ten-wicket victory made them the first holders.
As was said in the Zimbabwe camp before play began, had the chances been taken during the Australian innings Zimbabwe would now be batting in an effort to win the match rather than save it. However the mood seemed to be, as evidenced on the evening of the fourth day, that Zimbabwe were prepared to fight like tigers to make the Australians' task as difficult as possible. Their first aim was to wipe off the remaining deficit of 148, and then to bat out the rest of the day. They achieved the first - just -but threw away their chances of managing the second.
Gripper and Goodwin began positively, keeping the ones and twos ticking over, while Goodwin cracked two off-side fours in McGrath's second over. Gripper then got under way for the day by turning a ball from Warne wide of mid-on for four.
The hundredth came up in the 51st over, and in the 54th the overall scoring rate exceeded two runs per over for the first time during the innings. Goodwin celebrated with a cracking pull for four off McGrath. Runs continued to come steadily as Fleming replaced McGrath.
Gripper began to look increasingly confident, and played a fine off-drive, hit on the up, off Fleming to take his score to 47. He reached his fifty with a push past short midwicket; it took him 246 minutes and 194 balls. He had a fortunate escape on 53 when he attempted a lofted drive off Warne, mistimed it and it lobbed between mid-off and extra cover for two. Unfazed by this, he then drove Warne to the midwicket boundary. At 59 he enjoyed another narrow escape, coming very close to playing Colin Miller, bowling his off-breaks, on to his stumps in a tangle of bat and pads.
Gripper finally fell on the stroke of lunch for 60, playing back to Miller but beaten by a ball that spun sharply and trapped lbw right in front of the stumps. Zimbabwe went in to lunch on 154 for two, after a fine fighting partnership of 98. Gripper had played a superb innings on his debut, batting for 239 balls, a particularly fine effort for one who has played so little first-class cricket.
With the second new ball available in less than three overs, regular opener Gavin Rennie came in to join Goodwin. The latter got the score moving again with a boundary wide of mid-on off a full toss from Warne, which also brought up his fifty, off 135 balls. The next ball brought some drama, as Goodwin drove Warne straight into the stumps at the far end with Rennie backing up out of his crease. Warne dived for it and claimed he had got his fingers to it and that Rennie was run out. After some discussion his appeal was rejected by umpire Robinson and the television replay showed that in fact Warne had not touched the ball.
Rennie, who has a dour reputation, began quite fluently and played some delicate late cuts off the off-spin of Miller, as Australia delayed taking the second new ball, and then swung Warne to the midwicket boundary. The new ball finally came after 88 overs, slowing down the scoring but without taking another wicket. The score at the drinks break was 198 for two (Goodwin 67, Rennie 23), with no indication of the dramatic events to follow.
Immediately after the 200 came up Rennie fell for 23, cutting once too often at Miller and getting a top edge, to be caught at backward point by McGrath. Alistair Campbell replaced him, but never looked comfortable.
Then came Zimbabwe's third foolish run-out of the match, as Campbell pushed a ball just past the short-leg fielder, and both batsmen started off hesitantly; by the time common sense got the better of them it was too late and Campbell was stranded by Slater's throw as he ran in from the covers. Campbell made 1, and Zimbabwe were now 208 for four.
Andy Flower looked most unconvincing as he struggled, but failed, to score. Zimbabwe's running between wickets seemed to have unnerved their batsmen, as there were a couple of false starts for unlikely runs, with Goodwin the main culprit. Eventually, after facing 11 balls without scoring, Flower poked uncharacteristically at a ball from McGrath outside the off stump and steered the ball easily into Healy's gloves. Immediately the teams took tea, with Zimbabwe in steady decline at 211 for five and Goodwin still there, despite his efforts to run himself out, on 79.
Neil Johnson got off the mark rather fortuitously, lashing at Miller, who was getting considerable turn from his off-breaks, and slicing a ball just past slip for four. He never looked comfortable, and soon became the next victim of the slump, failing to get across to a ball from McGrath moving away from him and edging a low catch to Mark Waugh at second slip. He made 5, and Zimbabwe were now 220 for six, still needing 18 runs to make Australia bat again.
Goodwin enjoyed an escape on 86, when a ball from Miller hit his pad, then rebounded via his bat to silly point, who was unable to hold it. He soon lost Guy Whittall, though, who played forward to a sharp spinner from Waugh and edged a catch straight to Mark Waugh at slip for 2. Zimbabwe were now 227 for seven.
Heath Streak did not last long, playing back and trapped lbw by another leg-spinner from Warne, although there was a suspicion that the ball pitched outside leg stump. Zimbabwe were still one short of making Australia bat again, at 227 for eight. Goodwin quickly put that to rights, though, swinging Miller to midwicket for four. Strang for once decided that pads were at times more effective than the bat, although he was probably concerned with supporting Goodwin. In this he failed dismally, pushing a ball straight to short leg without scoring, and reducing Zimbabwe further to 232 to nine.
To the very next ball Goodwin, on 91, slammed a ball from Warne well wide of the off stump with unerring accuracy straight at Steve Waugh at cover, and the transformation was complete: from 200 for two, Zimbabwe had collapsed to 232 all out, and one of the most heroic fightbacks had given way to one of the most reprehensible of collapses. Australia needed just five runs to win, and Goodwin, who had fought all the way despite occasional slices of luck, had been robbed of a possible century by the incompetence of the middle order and tail.
Australia have failed in some vital run chases in the past, but there was little danger in their failing to handle their target of 5 against Zimbabwe. Greg Blewett did not begin too impressively, hooking wildly at a bouncer from Strang directed outside off stump, but two balls later crashed a much more controlled hook into the boundary at square leg. The end of the match came with a gesture symbolic of Zimbabwe's capitulation since afternoon drinks: Strang bowled a wide outside off stump and Australia were home. Blewett had 4 to his credit, while Michael Slater did not face a ball.
A presentation ceremony took place, with the Southern Cross Trophy being presented to Steve Waugh, who also won the Man of the Match award for his monumental 151. As befits the world champions in both forms of the game, Australia had maintained their persistence and pressure from beginning to end, and taught Zimbabwe some important lessons.
At the press conference Steve Waugh praised Zimbabwe's bowling in particular, and paid tribute to the way they made Australia fight throughout their innings. He had never faced a bowler like Bryan Strang before, left-arm medium-fast, primarily a swing bowler but one who ran his fingers across the seam as well. He admitted his century had been a rather luck innings, but said it was the first time he had enjoyed any luck in the nineties. It was refreshing, he said, to play a team that concentrated simply on playing cricket and getting on with the game, and he would welcome the opportunity to play Zimbabwe more regularly. But he felt Zimbabwe needed to learn to take the opportunities that came their way; had they held their catches, it would have been a different game. Zimbabwe made crucial errors at the wrong time. Alistair Campbell agreed that Zimbabwe had to learn from the Australians how to keep the pressure on.
