England maintain steady course

They did not make full use of the new ball and by bowling 17 wides they left room for improvement, but generally England bowled and fielded excellently again, restricting Zimbabwe to 167 on a lively Trent Bridge pitch and knocking off the runs in a manner as breezy and bright as the Nottingham weather.

It was commanding batting by Graham Thorpe and Nasser Hussain that ensured that there were 11.3 overs in hand when the winning runs came, although Neil Fairbrother seemed more intent on having a net in the middle than on improving England's net run rate, apparently reflecting a confident dressing-room.

The satisfaction of revenge for defeats in their past four one-day internationals against Zimbabwe came second to the relief of knowing that it would take a very unlikely set of results in the remaining matches in Group A for them not to qualify for the Super Six stage of the World Cup with South Africa and one other team.

England could only fail to reach the second round now if India were to beat Sri Lanka at Taunton today and England at Edgbaston on Saturday, and if Zimbabwe were also to beat South Africa. If all that transpired, England, India and Zimbabwe would be separated by run-rate.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. What England really need now, however, if they are to fulfill a wider ambition is a really tough game against India, preferably won in the final over. Their games to date have been too easy in three cases for all the sinews to be fully stretched, too difficult against South Africa for the batsmen to have sufficient time at the wicket. In four innings Stewart, Hick, Hussain and Thorpe have all scored fifties, but the form that Stewart seemed to have regained against Sri Lanka has gone and Fairbrother, Flintoff and Hollioake, who took over again yesterday from Croft, have had little or no chance.

This, however, is to look at the situation negatively. If England can beat India on Saturday they would return to Trent Bridge, a ground that suits them nicely, for a Super Six match on Saturday week. By then they might be daring to think about the possibility of a return to Lord's, but only if Stewart can remind himself that his batting works best when he strokes the ball, not belts it as he was trying to do yesterday during an unworthy innings in which he should have been leg-before to Heath Streak for six, three overs before he turned a catch to mid-wicket off his leg stump. The option remains to restore Nick Knight as an opener, drop Stewart down to No 7, and make use of Hick's off spin.

The fifth bowler's duties were shared yesterday by Flintoff, who bowled five wides in three overs, and Hollioake, who did not do badly considering his lack of match practice. If Fraser was not quite at his best, he got consistent bounce and the attempt to attack Ealham succeeded only briefly. Gough and Mullally were both paragons again, bowling with dangerous pace and movement. There is certainly a case of Mullally coming on earlier than he has so far. As soon as he did, he followed up the inswinger which Gough had zipped through Neil Johnson's gate in the seventh over by dismissing Paul Strang in his first over.

Three Zimbabwe wickets fell to slip catches and one to the wicketkeeper, a fair illustration of the movement available and Grant Flower did well to hang on for 29 overs. The only suggestion of a testing total came when he and his brother, Andy, began to accelerate, only for Hussain to blight the blossom with a swift pick-up, dive and direct hit on the stumps from backward point.

A total of 167 was never likely to test the England batting as sunshine drew what remained of the greeness in the pitch, but Stewart's embarrassment was followed by Hick's outside edge to a banana outswinger from Pommie Mbangwa that briefly gave Zimbabwe hope.

Thorpe, timing it beautifully, soon disabused them and Hussain relaxed to play at his best as well. By the time that Thorpe gave Mbwanga a second wicket with the help of a fine slip catch by Campbell from a fierce slash, the issue was settled. Thorpe's fifty came from 59 balls, Hussain's from 81. Half-term report: generally satisfactory.

May 26, 1999