• Nasser Hussain's 50 was his fifth in seven one-day innings. His run of scores - starting against Bangladesh in the ICC Knockout Trophy in October 2000 - reads: 95, 5, 73, 54, 1, 73 and 50. • England's victory was their ninth in the last ten one-dayers against Zimbabwe - before that they had lost six out of eight – and their fifth in a row in Zimbabwe.

• For the first time in 58 one-dayers, England managed to score at a run a ball during the first 15 overs, reaching 90 for 1 before the fielding restrictions were lifted. The last time they did so was on May 24, 1998, when Ally Brown and Nick Knight piled up 113 for 0 against South Africa at Headingley.

• Since the start of the 1999 World Cup England have won 16 one-day internationals out of 37, with 14 of those victories coming when they have fielded first.

• Zimbabwe have lost their last nine one-dayers, and excluding matches against Bangladesh they have now lost 14 in a row.

• Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight added 72 for the first wicket, their highest opening partnership in one-day internationals. It surpassed the 25 they put on in the NatWest Series mauling by Australia at Old Trafford last summer. Before this match Trescothick and Knight had added 44 in four opening partnerships, though they did add 124 for the second wicket against Australia at Bristol.

• Knight's 82 not out was his highest score against Zimbabwe and the highest by an English batsman in a one-dayer at Harare, surpassing the 80 Graeme Hick made in 1999-2000.

• Ben Hollioake, who took 2 for 37 in his 10 overs, returned his best figures in one-day internationals and doubled his wickets tally to boot. Before today he had taken only two wickets in 14 matches - both in the same game, at Port-of-Spain in 1997-98, when he took 2 for 43. Hollioake bowled his first pyjama-clad maiden in his 70th over, and added a second for good measure two overs later.

• Jeremy Snape and Matthew Hoggard, both playing in their second one-dayer, also recorded their best figures. Snape improved on the 2 for 39 he took in the first match by one run, while Hoggard's 3 for 37 eclipsed the 2 for 25 he took on Wednesday.

• Hussain's difficulties with the toss continued as he lost it for the 18th time in 20 internationals. But in this case it may well have been a blessing in disguise. This is the 11th one-dayer at Harare in which Zimbabwe have won the toss, and they have won only one of them.

Rob Smyth is on the staff at Wisden.com.

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