England scrape home after Zimbabwe fightback
England took an unbeatable 2-0 victory in the four-
match one-day series, by the narrowest of margins, one
wicket. Zimbabwe were left to rue a poor batting
display, but at least they fought back strongly to the very end when all had seemed lost.
On a heavily overcast day, play started 30 minutes
late, with 48 overs per side. At that time interruptions from rain seemed inevitable, but the clouds did lighten somewhat and it stayed dry. The pitch for the day had more grass than Wednesday's, but the outfield was very heavy.
The toss went Nasser Hussain's way and he put
Zimbabwe in to bat. England played an unchanged
team, while Zimbabwe strengthened their bowling by
bringing in John Rennie in place of Craig Wishart.
Johnson began aggressively, turning Caddick for two
to leg in his first over and then cutting him uppishly for four, the fielder skidding over the ropes in a vain attempt to stop it. Gough bowled particularly well to start with, while Caddick concentrated on slightly short of a length outside off stump. Campbell fell for the bait, guiding the ball straight into the safe hands of Hick in the gully. He
made 6 off 11 balls, and Zimbabwe were 16 for one.
The English bowlers continued to make the ball fly
from a length, and play was held up briefly when he took a painful blow on the forearm from Gough. Johnson
slashed and pulled Caddick for two fours in an over, but Carlisle remained unhappy against Gough, slashing and missing at rearing balls only just outside off stump, and did not appear to be long for this world. But he is a gutsy player and was destined to finish as top scorer.
White came on to bowl and suffered at first a contrast in fortunes after his early success on Wednesday; Carlisle cut his first ball over the slips for
four and then flicked him to the midwicket boundary.
Then Solanki in the gully dropped a fierce slash to his
left, a very difficult chance.
White did strike in his next over, though, as Johnson,
to his chagrin, drove a ball straight into the midriff of Hussain at short extra cover, to be out for 30, leaving Zimbabwe at 60 for two.
This was to prove the turning point of the innings,
though. Carlisle tried to nudge White to third man but
only succeeded in getting a thin edge to the keeper,
walking off straight away. He had scored 31 off 56
balls, and Zimbabwe were 76 for three. Once again
none of Zimbabwe's top three had succeeded in building
an innings.
Andy Flower got off the mark by driving Ealham high
over mid-off for three, the heavy outfield preventing the ball from reaching the boundary. He did not score
another run, though, trying to force a lifting ball outside the off stump from White and edging an easy catch to the keeper. Zimbabwe were now 80 for four, a virtual action replay of Wednesday when they also lost three quick wickets after a useful start. But worse was to come.
The dismissal of Grant Flower, who never looked happy, added to Zimbabwe's problems. He never looked comfortable and was bowled by White for 2 by a
ball that went right through him. Zimbabwe were now
struggling at 84 for five, White having taken four quick wickets for 14.
Viljoen never got to terms with his game, and after
scratching two runs off 20 balls fished weakly outside
the off stump, to White once again, and snicked a catch
to the keeper. Zimbabwe, on 98 for six, saw their stocks decline still further. Without addition, Goodwin (13) appeared to hand the match to England on a plate, pulling Mullally right into the hands of Hick at square leg, and the match appeared as good as over.
The hundred finally came up when Rennie nudged a
ball from White, in his last over, down to third man for a single. White finally retired from the bowling crease with figures of 10-1-21-5. "I bowled fast, straight, with a bit of bounce," he said afterwards. "But most of all I bowled ten overs on the bounce to prove my fitness." It must be admitted, though, that the Zimbabwean batsmen played him with a remarkable lack of competence, giving their wickets away with one soft dismissal after another.
Streak and Rennie fought to restore the innings, and
appeared to be in little trouble until Caddick, replacing White, unexpectedly got a ball to fly viciously from just short of a length, to catch the shoulder of Streak's bat and fly into Hick in the gully. Zimbabwe were now 102 for seven.
Rennie and Brent fought it out until the last over,
mostly in singles with the occasional four. Then Brent
(10), backing away and swinging mightily at Ealham,
lost his off stump, making Zimbabwe 131 for nine, then
Olonga was yorked first ball. Rennie was left
undefeated with a gallant and determined 18.
Zimbabwe soon struck back at the tourists by
claiming the wicket of Knight in the first over. Hussain dabbed a single to third man off the first ball of the innings, bowled by Streak, then off the third ball Knight was given out caught at the wicket. Umpire Tiffin took a long time to give his decision, Knight an even longer time to crawl off the field, and there was the suggestion that the bat had in fact hit the boot rather than the ball.
Hussain was next to go with the score on 6, beaten
by a ball from Streak that moved in and hit him on the
pad, to have umpire Tiffin raise his finger again for lbw. England were now 6 for two.
Hick looked aggressive, but found difficulty in
piercing the field at first, although he slashed Olonga
through the covers for four. Maddy began cautiously,
but then picked up Rennie over midwicket for a superb
four.
Zimbabwe made a crucial breakthrough when Hick
(13) tried to pull a ball from Streak without getting quite far enough across, and he skyed a simple catch to the keeper. Zimbabwe were back in with a chance,
England's only three experienced batsmen gone for 30.
Maddy and Solanki dug in, until the former had a
rather traumatic over against Brent; he drove him
uppishly through extra cover and stood back to admire
the four; he then realised that it would pull up, and had to scamper through for a belated two. The next ball he slashed at and skyed over the keeper's head for four. Then came an appeal for a stumping, camera-proven to be not out, and after that an attempted pull put the ball right down he throat of Olonga at long leg. He made 13 off 41 balls, and England were 58 for four.
Solanki continued to pick his gaps well, slashing
Brent uppishly through the covers for three. But he met his nemesis when left-arm spinner Grant Flower came
on, over the wicket; trying to sweep, he lobbed a catch
off the top edge that was well held by Streak running
round from short fine leg. He scored 24 off 35 balls, and England were 73 for five, the match right in the balance as the last five wickets needed a further 59 runs.
Again it was England's sixth-wicket pair, including
Ealham, that pulled the team out of trouble. White
followed up his fine bowling with a determined innings of 26, until he lashed Olonga into the covers to be caught by Goodwin for 26; England were now 120 for six, but victory seemed to be there for the taking.
The drama was not over yet, however, as Read, tied
down for 11 balls without scoring, pulled at Brent and hit a low catch to Wishart, substituting for Streak, at
midwicket, and England were 124 for seven. A close
lbw shout against Caddick, first ball, resulted in a leg-bye, following which Ealham's gallant innings came to an end. Beaten by Brent's slower ball, he fell lbw for 32 off 54 balls - England were 125 for eight, with six overs to go.
Without addition, Caddick played over a full-length
ball from Viljoen and was bowled off stump. The crowd
erupted as England's last pair needed seven runs to
win.
Brent bowled five fine deliveries to Gough, but the
other was on his pads and neatly glanced to the fine-leg boundary. When Viljoen bowled to Mullally, there was a confident bat-pad appeal rejected, probably correctly, and then a nudged single off the final ball, keeping Mullally on strike against Brent with one to tie, two to win. The second ball was involuntarily nudged between slip and gully to the third-man boundary and England had won by the narrowest of margins.
