Close Pakistan 302 for 4 (Youhana 141*, Inzamam 55, Elahi 53) beat Zimbabwe 295 for 9 (A Flower 77, Evans 68) by seven runs
Scorecard

Yousuf Youhana crashed an unbeaten 141 – the seventh and highest century of his one-day international career – to guide Pakistan to a seemingly impregnable total of 302 for 4 against an understrength Zimbabwean attack at Bulawayo. But some gutsy batting from Andy Flower and Craig Evans, and a brawling performance from the tail, enabled Zimbabwe to come within seven runs of an astonishing victory.

On paper at least, Zimbabwe never looked remotely capable of causing an upset. With Heath Streak unavailable after dislocating his shoulder in a traffic accident in Colombo, and Douglas Hondo and Travis Friend both unavailable through injury as well, Zimbabwe gave debuts to the allrounders Richard Sims and Barney Rogers, and the opening batsman, Stuart Matsikenyeri. Pakistan, by contrast, fielded a full-strength side and chose to bat first on winning the toss.

Zimbabwe had cause for early optimism when Taufeeq Umar was trapped lbw in Sean Ervine's first over, but Pakistan's innings was one-way traffic thereafter. Youhana scored his runs from just 147 balls, with 13 fours and three sixes and, in partnership with Younis Khan, thumped 61 runs from the last 38 balls of the innings.

In addition, both Salim Elahi and Inzamam-ul-Haq both scored half-centuries, and only Grant Flower, with two for 33 from 10 overs, was able to emerge with figures intact. When Zimbabwe slumped to 32 for 4 in reply, with both Matsikenyeri and Rogers among the victims, a rout seemed the only possible result.

But Flower played a typically over-my-dead-body innings of 77, adding 135 for the fifth wicket with Evans, who made his debut way back in 1992-93, but was playing in his first match for more than three years. Even so, both men fell in the space of four overs, and with 118 still needed, the cause was hopeless once again.

But Andy Blignaut, who is fast forging a Klusener-esque reputation for clean tailend hitting, hammered 55 from 39 balls, and even when he fell to Shoaib Akhtar, Tatenda Taibu and Henry Olonga kept Zimbabwe in the hunt. They never quite looked like achieving the impossible. But it was a performance of great fortitude that will stand Zimbabwe in good stead for the rest of this five-match series.

Zimbabwe
1 Alistair Campbell (capt), 2 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 3 Grant Flower, 4 Andy Flower, 5 Barney Rogers, 6 Craig Evans, 7 Andy Blignaut, 8 Sean Ervine, 9 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 10 Richard Sims, 11 Henry Olonga.

Pakistan
1 Taufeeq Umar, 2 Salim Elahi, 3 Yousuf Youhana, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq, 5 Younis Khan, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Wasim Akram, 9 Azhar Mahmood, 10 Waqar Younis (capt), 11 Shoaib Akhtar.

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