The Kirtley affair has taken some of the gloss of a job well done by England in Zimbabwe, but they should wrap up their first ever 5-0 victory at Bulawayo tomorrow. It will be a major surprise if they don't. England have yet to reveal whether Kirtley will play, though Duncan Fletcher said any decision will not be affected by the decision of Colonel Naushad Ali, the match referee, to report Kirtley's bowling action to the ICC.

If that's the case, he probably shouldn't play. Matthew Hoggard has had a rest and should be given the chance to nail down an A+ for the tour, while Chris Silverwood must surely play his first one-dayer since Ben Hollioake's match at Lord's in 1997. It would be harsh on a man who has carried the drinks more than most in recent times to go all the way to Zimbabwe without getting a single game.

That would usually leave room for another seamer, but on a pitch that turned appreciably on Wednesday there is a compelling case for England playing two spinners -- Jeremy Snape and Paul Grayson.

At the top of the order England should leave pretty much well alone. They have found a niche for most of their batsmen on this tour and they should now leave them to learn their lines ahead of the World Cup.

Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight have opened with an oomph not seen since the days of Graham Gooch and Ian Botham. And Paul Collingwood and Andy Flintoff -- one coolly nurdling, the other mercilessly biffing -- have complemented each other perfectly at Nos. 5 and 6. And better still, they seem to have avoided picking up the English allergy to unexceptional slow bowling.

Owais Shah should also get another opportunity to get his England career back on track. Shah's is a peculiar case: even though it is only four months since he wowed observers and riled Australians in the NatWest Series, he seems to be under a bit of pressure, thanks mainly to some patchy treatment from the selectors. England are in danger of looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Nasser Hussain will want to return if he is fit, but it might be better for him to put his feet up, as he has proved his worth in the shorter game with five fifties in his last eight innings. It might be better instead to push Ben Hollioake up the order, as he could be a dangerous pinch-hitting option in South Africa, where the ball will come onto the bat nicely.

This would mean a relatively inexperienced middle order of Hollioake, Shah, Collingwood, Flintoff and Foster. Somebody would therefore have to put their hand up, as Hussain likes to say, which is the whole point of tourslike this. A matchwinning 70 from Hussain, Thorpe or even Mark Ramprakash would tell us absolutely nothing. Collingwood, Snape and Hoggard have announced themselves on this tour. If Shah does so tomorrow, it would complete a very good fortnight's work. p> Possible line-ups England 1 Marcus Trescothick (capt), 2 Nick Knight, 3 Ben Hollioake, 4 Owais Shah, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Andy Flintoff, 7 Paul Grayson, 8 James Foster (wk), 9 Jeremy Snape, 10 Chris Silverwood, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

Zimbabwe 1 Alistair Campbell (capt), 2 Grant Flower, 3 Stuart Carlisle, 4 Andy Flower (wk), 5 Craig Wishart, 6 Doug Mariller, 7 Dion Ebrahim, 8 Sean Ervine, 9 Gary Brent, 10 Travis Friend, 11 Henry Olonga

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