Close England 298 for 8 (Trescothick 119, Hussain 75, Hondo 4-45) beat Zimbabwe (Streak 50*, Irani 4-37, Hoggard 3-25) by 108 runs
Scorecard

A sparkling century from Marcus Trescothick and a devastating spell of new-ball bowling from Matthew Hoggard condemned Zimbabwe to a 108-run defeat at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. It was England's 13th win in their last 14 matches against Zimbabwe, and their ninth in a row. The result means that Zimbabwe will go no further in this year's Champions Trophy, while England and India will fight it out on Sunday for a place in the semi-finals.

Trescothick scored 119 - his fourth one-day hundred but his first in a winning cause - from just 102 balls. He added 141 for the second wicket with Nasser Hussain, an England record for any wicket against Zimbabwe. Although he tired towards the end, unsurprisingly given the oppressive heat, all of his strokes were present and correct: ferocious cover-drives, clips down the ground, withering pulls, and, of course, a couple of mighty slog-sweeps for six. He reached his 50 off 40 balls with the minimum of fuss, and his century came off from only 89 balls.

At the other end Hussain, who made 75, mixed stodge and style, grim defence interspersed with some frivolous, twinkle-toed improvisation. It wasn't a wholly convincing innings: he reached 50 off 64 balls but was clearly frustrated at his inability to accelerate. It can't be easy watching a whipper-snapper at the other end smack the ball around for fun.

Hussain eventually got himself out, smearing across the line at Heath Streak (187 for 2), and as is so often the case, England then started to lose their way. Nobody else topped 25, and Doug Hondo was rewarded for his perseverance with three cheap wickets to add to the early scalp of Nick Knight. Knight, who failed to reach fifty for the tenth match in a row, must now be feeling the warm breath of Michael Vaughan on the back of his neck.

From 185 for 1 after 31 overs, England closed on 298 for 8, managing only 113 runs from the last 19 overs. It was negligent stuff - they should have been well past 300 - but from the moment Hoggard charged in for the second over of England's innings, it was never going to be costly.

Straightaway, Hoggard found enough swing and seam movement to send the ball spitting off the pitch like a legbreak. Alistair Campbell was bowled off the underside of the gloves for 2 as he jabbed down late on a back-of-a-length inducker (3 for 1), Grant Flower (7) propped forward to offer Trescothick a simple waist-high catch at second slip (14 for 2), and when Dion Ebrahim lost patience with his slow scoring, and aimed a wild swing at a length delivery, the game was as good as up. The ball scooped up to mid-on, where Ian Blackwell had few problems taking his first international catch, despite having to stare into the floodlights (54 for 3).

With Andy Flower still at the crease, England's job was not quite done, but even he couldn't keep pace with a run rate that had climbed to nine an over by the halfway point. Flower had scored a magnificent 145 in Zimbabwe's defeat against India, but this time fell to Ronnie Irani for 44, caught in the gully off a leading edge. His innings contained just two boundaries, the second of which, off the final delivery of Hoggard's spell, would have been a certain catch had Hussain bothered with a slip.

Flower also survived a vociferous appeal for a leg-side catch off Dominic Cork, but the third umpire was unable to spot any deviation. England looked aggrieved - if there was a noise, it had to be bat - and had the replay not been available, the decision would surely have been out. Cork wasn't too amused when the delivery was eventually called a wide, either. The technological puzzlement was compounded later in the innings, when Guy Whittall was adjudged lbw by the third umpire, even though he was struck outside the line.

Whittall was the third of four victims for Irani - and the second in three balls - as he and Jeremy Snape strangled what remained of Zimbabwe's resistance. Heath Streak provided the crowd with some late entertainment with a flurry of sixes off Blackwell, who will rarely have such an opportunity for pressureless match practice.

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