4th ODI: Zimbabwe v England at Bulawayo, 10 Oct 2001 John Ward |
England innings:
Zimbabwe innings: |
Grant Flower again opened the Zimbabwe innings with Campbell, playing very correctly and with some assured strokes, especially against Ryan Sidebottom, who struggled for accuracy. Campbell (8) encouraged the bowler by pushing a soft catch to silly mid-on, but Stuart Carlisle was dropped at a wide leg-slip position when 11.
Flower and Carlisle batted more confidently than the Zimbabwe top order had done to date in the series, Andy Flower excluded, running well between wickets, with a few misfields helping their cause. Carlisle, as often, played a useful innings without finishing the job, scoring 28 before Hollioake moved a ball back a long way from outside off stump to bowl him; 86 for two.
Andy Flower came in for once on a useful platform, but scored only 6 before trying to swing Hollioake over the midwicket boundary, skying a catch to be taken by wicket-keeper Jamie Foster. His brother Grant reached a fine fifty off only 45 balls.
Collingwood began to flourish as Andy Flintoff joined him. He matched his more renowned partner run for run as they continued to put the Zimbabwe bowling to the sword, and his first one-day fifty came off only 60 balls.
When Olonga returned, Flintoff hit him brutally, once stepping down the pitch to drive him into the crowd at long-on for six; Olonga’s four overs cost 44 runs. Grant Flower, however, had him caught at long-off for 46 after a partnership of 97, and then followed it up by bowling Hollioake for 5 with a ball that spun sharply from outside leg stump. England were 248 for six in the 43rd over.
Paul Grayson (6) struggled to maintain the momentum and eventually a frustrated heave saw him bowled by Friend. Jamie Foster finally got an international innings; he drove his first ball for a single, but England did not make as much as they would have liked from the final few overs as Collingwood became bogged down and was eventually run out in the penultimate over. In the final over Brent yorked Kirtley for 1, finishing with one for 37; Grant Flower (two for 43) and Marillier (four for 38) also returned presentable figures.
The venue for the final two matches of a series already decided moved to the sunny and immaculate Queens Sports Club in Bulaawayo. Both teams were captained by stand-ins, the regular captains both injuring themselves in the previous game.
Alistair Campbell stood in for Heath Streak of Zimbabwe, while Marcus Trescothick took over from Nasser Hussain of England. Streak was replaced by Travis Friend, while Dirk Viljoen gave way to the promising but very inexperienced medium-paced all-rounder Sean Ervine. England, with the series decided, made four changes, with Owais Shah, Paul Grayson, Ben Hollioake and James Kirtley coming in for Hussain, Graham Thorpe, Jeremy Snape and Matthew Hoggard.
In the absence of Hussain, England managed to win the toss and bat in fine conditions. Openers Trescothick and Nick Knight began positively, although the former should have been run out on 8, but the fielder fumbled the ball. Gary Brent alone managed to establish some sort of control, but Henry Olonga and newcomer Ervine were hammered mercilessly by Trescothick in particular.
The opening pair raised the 100 in the 15th over, but one run later Trescothick (52) tried to swing away a leg-side ball from off-spinner Doug Marillier and top-edged a catch to square leg. Zimbabwe quickly struck again, with Knight one short of his fifty edging a defensive push from Marillier to the keeper, while Shah had failed to score when he tried to sweep the same bowler and gloved an easy catch behind.
England had to regroup from 113 for three, and a good stand was developing between Mark Ramprakash and Paul Collingwood when Marillier, by no means a frontline bowler, bowled Ramprakash for 17 as he drove over a full-length ball.
Zimbabwe also have a stand-in captain in Alistair Campbell, who is leading the side in the absence of the injured captain Streak and his understudy, Guy Whittall. Zimbabwe also made changes in pursuit of their first victory in 11 consecutive matches, and replacing Dirk Viljoen with all-rounder Sean Ervine. Streak is replaced by Travis Friend.
Trescothick immediately secured a change of luck with the toss, which he won before deciding to bat.
England team: *ME Trescothick, NV Knight, MR Ramprakash, OA Shah, PD Collingwood, A Flintoff, BC Hollioake, AP Grayson, +JS Foster, RJ Kirtley, RJ Sidebottom.
Zimbabwe team: *ADR Campbell, GW Flower, SV Carlisle, DA Marillier, +A Flower, CB Wishart, DD Ebrahim, SM Ervine, TJ Friend, GB Brent, HK Olonga.
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Date-stamped : 10 Oct2001 - 18:24