Date-stamped : 21 Dec96 - 18:13 PREVIEW OF ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND, FIRST TEST Who would dare to predict the result of this inaugural Test between Zimbabwe and England? The tourists have the greater depth and much greater experience; the home team have the stronger motivation and enthusiasm, the better morale. England are fighting to regain lost pride, Zimbabwe for glory. There are three very disappointed young Zimbabwe players: batsman Craig Wishart and bowlers `Pom' Mbangwa and Everton Matambanadzo, who have all been left out. For perhaps the first time in international cricket, Zimbabwe's selectors have had to face the happy problem of deciding whom they can possibly omit. Bryan Strang would have been a fourth, but he has bee included at the last minute after Eddo Brandes, who turned his ankle at practice yesterday, was forced to withdraw. Brandes had been generally written off two months ago, after the emergence of Mbangwa and Matambanadzo, but he worked hard to regain full fitness and has bowled so well this season that he could not be ignored. Strang has a fine record in international cricket and, as a left-hander, will add variety to the Zimbabwe attack. Replacing Wishart is Andy Waller, finally making his Test debut at the age of 37, a reward for years of loyalty. It had looked as though Waller, at times unavailable due to farming commitments, would never play Test cricket despite making numerous one-day international appearances, but his form this season has been irresistible. He scored a brilliant 266 against Namibia in a UCB Bowl match not ranked as first-class, last month scored his maiden first-class century, and on Sunday was Zimbabwe's top scorer with 48. Stuart Carlisle also returns to open the innings; although his technique has been criticised at times, he is a real fighter whose courage has become a byword among Zimbabwe players. England have once again omitted poor old Jack Russell from their team, giving the wicket-keeping gloves to Alec Stewart, who did keep superbly on Sunday. He has rarely batted well in tests when required to keep wicket, though. In view of the England batting on tour so far, Russell might well have been considered for his batting -- certainly he has a reputation for scoring runs when they are most needed. England will play both spinners, and Chris Silverwood will make his Test debut. Perhaps the major factor in determining the result of this Test match, if the rain stays away (and the weather looks set well for today, at least), could be the ability or otherwise of Zimbabwe's batsmen to play with the same confidence and effect as did their bowlers and fielders on Sunday. It looks like a good batting pitch but, if Sunday's match was a fair indication, this could develop into a war of attrition and lowish scores. If Zimbabwe's batsmen can play to their true potential, the team's motivation and spirit may well bring them victory. LUNCH-TIME REPORT, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND This morning's play has been dominated by a superb innings from the often maligned Zimbabwe captain Alistair Campbell. He did his first job correctly, by winning the toss, and then overcame the loss of an early wicket by playing a fine dominating innings to give his team the advantage by lunch. It is a hot day in Bulawayo and the pitch, while it did show a little early life, has settled down into a good batting track. England started the match with a little more evident enthusiasm than they have often shown during the tour, but this gradually wore off during the course of the morning. Darren Gough, who has perhaps looked the best of the five-man attack, bowled Stuart Carlisle a sharp lifter with his third delivery, which was fended off to forward short leg, where John Crawley took a good catch. This brought in Campbell, back to his usual position at Number Three, and clearly where he should stay now. Campbell has often been criticised for throwing his wicket away with indisciplined strokeplay, a fault to which he has confessed and is now working hard to eradicate. This season he has certainly shown a new maturity, as his fine innings on Sunday demonstrated. Today he showed that he has not lost his strokes. First of all he laid into Mullally, hitting him over his head for four (not too far from the bowler's hand, though), swinging him to long leg for four and then driving him through midwicket for three. In the next over he played perhaps his best stroke, a crashing hook to the boundary off Gough. He has played all the strokes this morning, and played them well, interspersing languid-looking drives with more violent cuts and pulls. A couple of strokes were a little risky, and he did come close to being lbw to Croft's first ball, playing for the turn that wasn't there. He had a couple of quiet periods, perhaps saving his energy for the next onslaught. At the other end, Grant Flower needed to do little more than hold his end up and watch the fun. He finished on 34 at lunch, with Campbell still there on 70. The total is 109 for one, and England look as if they will have to endure a long, hard day in the sun. TEA-TIME SUMMARY -- ZIMBABWE V ENGLAND Honours during the afternoon session were about even. Zimbabwe were hoping to build on the century partnership between Grant Flower and Alistair Campbell, but lost both batsmen not too long after the interval. Flower, trying to force Silverwood off the back foot, was superbly caught at third slip, Hussain diving low to his left to pick up the chance. Hussain has certainly looked the best of the English fielders during the tour, perhaps the only English player to rank alongside most of the Zimbabweans. Campbell, who before lunch had passed 1000 runs in Test cricket, was not to reach the elusive first Test century. Trying to slash Croft off the back foot, he miscued and sent a catch to Silverwood at backward point. Perhaps the impending century had had an effect on him. He has now passed fifty on nine occasions in Test cricket; this innings is second only to his 99 against Sri Lanka in Harare two years ago. The English bowling was more accurate after lunch, although sometimes defensive in nature. Croft especially tended to bowl a line well wide of the off stump, but his accurate length made it difficult for the batsmen to attack him successfully. Tufnell bowled badly at first, but escaped serious problems. Zimbabwe's two leading batsmen, Dave Houghton and Andy Flower, batted through steadily until tea, content to play safe most of the time but occasionally hitting the loose ball with power and certainty. Both tried but got away with some unwise sweeps early in the innings. Houghton, still quite clearly a world-class batsman at the age of 39, hit Croft for a superb six over long-on, while Flower has hit some of his usual classy off-side strokes. Zimbabwe's aim is now to play through the final session with a view to building a large total tomorrow, hopefully well in excess of 400. England, for their part, will be hoping for some wickets to give them a chance in the game -- or at least some rain. There are some dark clouds to the north and east, but no imminent prospect of play being halted by rain or bad light. CLOSE OF PLAY SUMMARY -- ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND Some dubious batting tactics by Zimbabwe, improved bowling and an incident of gamesmanship (the well-known euphemism for cheating) have enabled England to regain lost ground by the close of play. Zimbabwe appeared to be at fault primarily through their failure to take full advantage of their good position at tea. Instead of aiming to pile on the runs and make England suffer at the end of a long day in the field, they pottered around and waited for the runs to come -- and it didn't work. The England bowlers, especially Robert Croft, improved their performance but they were never really put under pressure by the Zimbabwean batsmen. Andy Flower, a fine strokemaker, is still there at the close, but has scored at a rate of only two runs per over. 56 runs by the team in two hours is surely misguided policy. The accusation of cheating was first made by English journalists, and it occurred when the fielders went up in raucous appeal for a catch at short leg, and Andy Waller was given out. Sky Television replays revealed that the ball had come off the pad only, and the bat was not involved. Yet Waller himself was perhaps partly to blame: had he been playing his natural game, taking the attack to the bowlers, instead of pushing, prodding and padding, this might well never have happened. In his first Test, he never looked his normal free-flowing self. Earlier, Dave Houghton had played some good strokes; he and Campbell were the only batsmen to attempt to hold the initiative over the England bowlers. He was dismissed by a good catch by Alec Stewart from a thick outside edge. Just before the close, Guy Whittall cut hard to backward point where Atherton held a low catch. Paul Strang, who scored a century against Pakistan, held out with Flower to the close; with Heath Streak still to come, there is the potential for a total of over 400 tomorrow, but first of all the overnight batsmen will need to regain the initiative. This is not so likely to happen without taking the attack to the bowlers. PREVIEW: Second Day Yesterday Alistair Campbell confirmed that the Zimbabwean team's policy after tea yesterday had been to consolidate their position rather than try to dominate the England attack at the end of a long day in the field. It didn't succeed, as they lost three vital wickets in the final session but, he said, that is one of the things that happen in cricket. Andy Flower is still batting, on 58, and Campbell says it will be the job of his partners to hold their ends up while Flower accumulates runs at his own pace. They hope to keep England in the field for another two or three hours and exceed the 350-odd that he considers would be a good score on this pitch. If Zimbabwe are successful in this, we may expect a day of attrition as England will seek first to make the match safe. It will be interesting to see if the Zimbabwe bowlers and fielders are able to dominate the much-vaunted England batting as effectively as they have done for most of this tour so far. There is a possibility of rain later in the day, according to the weather report, which does often find the weather as unpredictable as we find the cricket! TEATIME SUMMARY, SECOND DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND (No summary was possible at lunch owing to a line breakdown) England began the day needing to take the final four Zimbabwean wickets fairly quickly if they were to give themselves a chance of winning this Test match. However, they were their own worst enemies, as poor bowling gave Andy Flower and Paul Strang all the encouragement they needed to build on their overnight partnership. Alan Mullally in particular was erratic, frequently swinging the ball well wide of the stumps, while Tufnell concentrated on a leg-stump line. They had taken the total well past three hundred before England finally broke through. Flower was progressing steadily towards his third Test century, taking runs as they came and eschewing all risks. Strang, the junior partner, was actually the more aggressive, and hit Tufnell out of the attack with lofted fours over midwicket and long-on. But he became too adventurous: after flicking Silverwood over the slips for four, he swung across the line, attempting to hit over the top, and Tufnell at mid-on took what was, for a fielder of his reputation, a good catch above his head. Close of play update With Streak playing watchfully at the other end, Flower pushed his way through the nineties, content to wait for the loose ball and wait until after lunch. It finally came with a reverse sweep off Tufnell. He accelerated little after reaching three figures, the aim evidently being still to occupy the crease for as long as possible and grind out the runs. But the end of the innings came quickly. Streak, playing back defensively, found the ball trickling from his bat between his legs to hit the stumps. Flower, sweeping, scooped the ball up on the leg side for Stewart to take a diving catch and appeal successfully for a catch off the gloves. Last man Henry Olonga only lasted three balls, caught close in, and now it was time for England to try to mount a challenge. England's batting so far on this tour has generally been very poor, but Nick Knight and Mike Atherton seemed to have put all this behind them. The Zimbabwe bowling, while perhaps not their best, was certainly much better than most of what England have produced in this match, but they chose well the balls to be hit and batted with great skill and confidence. Their tea was spoilt, however, as in the final over Atherton played back to a top-spinner from Paul Strang and was indisputably in front. During the interval, a light rain has started and the pitch has been covered. At the moment it appears that the rain may not last long, but it will inevitably take a while to get started again afterwards. For the time being, play is suspended. PREVIEW, THIRD DAY'S PLAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND As their coach David Lloyd said yesterday evening, England do not consider themselves out of this match yet. He feels that, if they can amass over 400 runs during the next two days, they may well be able to put Zimbabwe under some pressure in the second innings. This is indeed a possibility, remembering Zimbabwe's susceptibility to sudden batting collapses -- but then the England batting has been notoriously unreliable over the years, and especially on the current tour. He concedes that the loss of Atherton's wicket is a major blow. Andy Flower, for his part, hopes that Zimbabwe may be able to put England under pressure, especially as there are rough patches on the pitch where Paul Strang has already found bounce and turn. He admitted that he was struggling to find the last few runs for his century, but the reverse sweep that brought him to three figures was premeditated -- he knew that the shot was on if the ball was pitched well up in the right place, and was ready for it. Talk of the future of this match may well be hypothetical, though, as the Bulawayo sky is heavily overcast and it is quite possible that rain may have a major part to play today. If so, the chances of a result would hinge on Zimbabwe's ability to force England to follow on, which is a possibility, although not very likely. But it does appear that play will at least start on time. LUNCH-TIME REPORT, THIRD DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND After some dashing early strokeplay from Nick Knight, the England innings has developed into a war of attrition, as Stewart and Hussain are playing safe against some good Zimbabwe bowling. Knight and leg-spinner Paul Strang have been the most prominent players this morning, under an overcast sky with Scotch mist on and off, but not enough to stop play. Heath Streak proved unusually erratic early on, as was Henry Olonga at first when he replaced him, and Knight took full toll of some loose deliveries, especially outside the off stump. Runs flowed freely at that end, while at the other Paul Strang at times tied both batsmen in knots. Knight in particular failed to read him, and came close to being lbw on at least one occasion. It was Olonga who made the breakthrough, though, once he had settled down to bowl more accurately; he bowled a very good slower ball which beat Knight's bat when playing forward, and the television replay seemed to confirm that it was very straight. Nasser Hussain was dropped off his first ball, a very low sharp chance to forward short leg, and was then close to being lbw. But he weathered the storms, as did Stewart. Streak returned, to bowl with less pace but more accuracy, and the two batsmen settled down to watchful defence, while picking off the occasional loose ball. So far the rain has held off, but the weather for the rest of the day is quite unpredictable. Barring a surprising turn of events, England should save the follow-on; even if the weather does remain dry, a draw is beginning to look the most likely result. But we're not betting on it. TEA-TIME REPORT, THIRD DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND After some good progress by Zimbabwe's bowlers, notably Paul Strang, during the afternoon session, England consolidated again and were batting steadily when they went off for tea. Strang took both wickets to fall, the first being Alec Stewart, who had batted very well, especially when pulling Olonga powerfully through midwicket for two fours early during the session. He tried to sweep Strang, not the wisest of strokes, and was hit on the front pad, on the line of the off stump, to be given out. It may well have been so, with the television replay inconclusive. Graham Thorpe played a couple of good strokes without looking settled, before out to a traditional leg-spinner's dismissal. He pushed forward to the googly, which took his outside edge and popped over the gloves of wicketkeeper Andy Flower. As Flower twisted aside to give his slip a clear view, the fielder in question, captain Alistair Campbell, dived to his right to take a good catch. Crawley settled in after an uncertain start, and after a while Hussain decided it was time to break the leg-spinner's stranglehold. It is proving to be an intriguing battle so far and, with one or two daring attacking strokes by Hussain coming off; he is slightly ahead on points, perhaps, but the battle is not over yet. The clouds are gradually lifting and for the first time the sun has emerged. Rain is looking less likely than at any time during the day, and the final session will probably be crucial to the further development of the match. England may well be pushing for a first-innings lead, or Zimbabwe may strike back with some quick wickets to refresh their hopes of victory. CLOSE OF PLAY SUMMARY, THIRD DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND England, in the forms of Nasser Hussain and John Crawley, chose to play it safe as they batted out the final session without los- ing a wicket. They were rather severe on the spinners early on, with Paul Strang looking a little tired, as Alistair Campbell de- layed taking the second new ball for six overs in the hope that his spinners would achieve a breakthrough. The gamble failed, but the new ball likewise failed to bring a wicket. There followed some good bowling from Heath Streak and Bryan Strang, with the younger Strang especially looking an altogether better bowler than he has done so far in this match. However, the breakthrough did not come, despite a couple of minor alarms, as Hussain and Crawley plodded resolutely towards a century and a fifty respectively. Crawley reached his target first, and then Hussain, after a couple of nervy strokes, drove Henry Olonga wide of mid-on; a rather risky third run, chancing Andy Waller`s arm, brought him to his third Test century. Both live to fight again tomorrow, with England now looking likely to lead on first in- nings. They have a longer tail than Zimbabwe`s, though, and these two will probably have to bat for longer still to get their team a useful lead and then put Zimbabwe under pressure in the second innings. The sun is now shining, and the uncertain weather did not cause any time to be lost today. The immediate future is still uncert- ain. PREVIEW, 4TH DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND Yesterday evening Nasser Hussain explained the doggedness of his century and England`s approach at the crease by pointing to the difficulty of scoring runs quickly on a slow pitch with the field well spread. He might also have mentioned the high quality of the Zimbabwean fielding, which was generally so sharp that field- ers could be posted deeper than normal without the risk of their giving away singles. Hussain claimed that he could generally read Paul Strang`s bowling but rated him highly, although not yet in the class of Mushtaq Ahmed or Anil Kumble. England`s aim, he says, is to bat for at least two sessions to- day, take a good lead, and then see how Zimbabwe play under pressure. Realistically, England are now the only team with a real chance of victory, but this would be dependent on a serious Zimbabwe second- innings collapse. For Zimbabwe to win, probably 26 wickets would have to fall on the final two days, a near im- possibility on this pitch, which is turning, but slowly. The weather is much brighter than it was at this time yesterday, but it is impossible to predict what it will be like later today. For a while, at least, it should be hot and sunny. LUNCH-TIME REPORT, 4TH DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND England`s hopes of gaining a big first-innings lead were dimin- ished during the morning session when their lower middle order suffered a minor collapse. The day began steadily, with the batsmen content merely to take runs as they came and Zimbabwe, although never playing badly, lacking urgency in view of their inability to win this match. The turning point came when Hussain hooked a bumper from Streak thrillingly but uppishly; Bryan Strang, on the long-leg boundary, looked down at the boundary rope, up towards the ball, stuck up his left hand as if in a token gesture, and completed a sensa- tional catch. His successors never looked stable, although John Crawley played soundly and never looked to be in any trouble. Croft shuffled across to Olonga, played across the line and was clearly lbw. Darren Gough poked a catch to short leg, and Silverwood, looking rather unhappy in his first Test innings, lobbed a simple catch into the gully off the shoulder of the bat. Mullally looked as secure as anybody as he batted through to lunch. Paul Strang bowled unchanged from the north end, and has now passed 50 overs; his four wickets are the most he has taken in a home Test innings. He is still bowling with admirable accuracy and would deserve the final two as well. Streak was not always at his best, while Olonga bowled a mixture of good and loose balls. Bryan Strang, despite redeeming himself with a very good spell late yesterday, has not yet been given another chance. The weather so far has been generally fine, with a lot of fleecy clouds. There is as yet no sign of any rain, but that is always a possibility later in the afternoon. If there were first=innings points, we could anticipate an interesting strug- gle, as England need 10 to take the lead with two wickets left. As it is, probably the main point of interest will be to see if Crawley can reach his century without being dismissed or left stranded. TEA-TIME REPORT, 4TH DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND The match has taken a sudden turn for the worse as far as Zimbab- we are concerned. It was always possible that a second-innings batting collapse might put Zimbabwe in danger of losing, and the start to their second innings gave further reason for such fears. England`s first innings dragged on for about an hour after lunch, with little real purpose after John Crawley had reached his second Test century. He was a little fortunate to do so. After lunch, the blatant Zimbabwe tactics were to spread back the field for the first four balls of each over to Crawley to try to get at his partner Mullally, but Crawley foiled them almost every time, running a single off the fourth ball while Mullally blocked the last two. Mullally was finally dismissed by a fine diving catch at deep backward square leg from a swat at a short ball from Streak, and Phil Tufnell was called on to see Crawley home. Then the Zimbabwe catching proved unusually fallible, with Tufnell being dropped twice. Crawley reached three figures with a superb pull for six off Streak, but both teams then continued their cat-and-mouse tactics to little purpose. Runs never came quickly and finally Crawley`s innings ended when he was adjudged caught at the wicket. This gave Paul Strang his first five- wicket haul in this country. He bowled almost 60 overs and per- haps Campbell was guilty of overbowling his two main bowlers. Bryan Strang, despite a good spell late yesterday, was not given an over today. Zimbabwe were soon in trouble when they went in again 30 runs behind. Stuart Carlisle looked most uncomfortable, and un- char- acteristically gave his wicket away with a simple close catch. Then Grant Flower, who seems to attract dubious decis- sions, was surprisingly adjudged leg-before padding up to a ball moving in from outside the off stump, and Zimbabwe were in sudden trouble. Dave Houghton responded to the crisis with some aggres- sive but slightly risky strokes, but soon both he and Alistair Campbell had settled down against an England attack which looked somewhat better than it had done in the first innings. But they will have to look to playing out the day to allow Zimbabwe to en- ter the final day in safety. The weather remains generally fine, and there is as yet no sign of any weather interruption today. CLOSE OF PLAY REPORT, 4TH DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND The real England cricket team has finally arrived in Zimbabwe. As yet we have been unable to identify the ventriloquist`s dum- mies who stood in for them until yesterday, but it is clear that a completely different team is now actually on the field. An in- finitely better bowling performance has given England a better than 50% chance of victory on the final day tomorrow, weather permitting. Zimbabwe`s batsmen seemed taken by surprise and three vital wickets fell in the final session. Two of them seemed to get themselves out unnecessarily under pressure -- Andy Flower and Dave Houghton, the last two we would expect to do so. All three were seemingly well set when they lost their wickets. The com- pletely revitalised England team seemed to take them by surprise when perhaps they had been mentally prepared to play out a dead match. The first wicket to fall after tea was that of Alistair Campbell, who was completely bamboozled by Croft`s slower ball, playing too late and all around it, to be clean bowled. Then Tufnell, replacing Croft as Atherton never allowed the batsmen to settle down against any bowler, had Andy Flower surprisingly pushing a firm but straight-forward catch to short leg. Finally Dave Houghton, just before the close, unwisely tried to hit Tufnell over the infield and only succeeded in sending a fairly easy running catch to mid-on. It was an unrecognisably better performance in the field by Eng- land, and a disappointing response by Zimbabwe, who are still fewer than 100 runs ahead. They will be forced to fight very hard to avoid defeat tomorrow as all their experienced batsmen have gone. They do bat in depth and players like Paul Strang are well known for their fighting qualities but, if England maintain their current mood, it may well be all over by the afternoon. We wait to see if Zimbabwe can summon up the resources to save a match they dominated on the first two days. The joker in the pack is the weather -- it may well be wetter again tomorrow. PREVIEW, 5TH DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND David Lloyd yesterday evening felt that England were in `a terrific position', and it is hard to argue with him. As long as the rain stays away, and there is no sign of rain at the present, Zimbabwe's last five batsmen will need to survive until tea, at least, if they are to salvage a draw. They have little experience of playing for draws, as their staple diet is 50-over club cricket and they play only three domestic first-class matches each season. One feels that Zimbabwe will have to pull something extraordinary out of the bag to force a draw -- but they do have the potential to do so. Much depends on whether the England bowling is as good as it was yesterday -- but, now their attitude is right, performance should follow. Lloyd said that his team yesterday felt that Zimbabwe were `flat', and they took advantage of it. John Crawley confirmed this by stating that the psychological balance of the match had changed, although England had planned to establish a lead of around 150. He was not unduly concerned, Crawley said, at the prospect of running out of partners before reaching his century, but was confident that the tail would survive. Zimbabwe's two dropped catches, although sharp, added to their frustration and also played their part in altering the psychological balance. So England enter the final day with their tails up, and for Zimbabwe it will be a tremendous test of character. The likelihood is that, whatever target England face, they will have to fight every inch of the way. But first Zimbabwe have to fight their way with the bat. LUNCH-TIME REPORT, 5th DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND Some determined Zimbabwe batting has restored the balance to this match, which is poised for a tight finish. They are 158 runs ahead and still have three wickets standing, with two sessions to play. Night-watchman Bryan Strang did not last long. He has a good eye but a dodgy technique, and probably decided his chances of occupying the crease for long were limited; going for a big hit, he skied the ball to deepish mid-on. Andy Waller played what was generally a fine innings, becoming the first Zimbabwean batsman since the inaugural Test to score a fifty on debut. He took a couple of early risks and looks vulnerable when sweeping, but he usually chose the right ball to score and looked far more comfortable and natural than he had in the first innings. He and Guy Whittall frustrated the England attack for just over an hour for 67 runs. Atherton began the day by using his spinners and never completely forsook them but, as the wickets did not come, he gave Mullally and Gough a bowl from the south end. It was Gough who eventually broke the stand, immediately after Waller reached his fifty. A vicious delivery forced Waller on to the back foot, but he failed to get into line and sent a straight-forward catch to second slip. Then Paul Strang, always a fighter, held out watchfully with Whittall until lunch. The new ball is due immediately after lunch, and the way the Zimbabwean batsmen handle it may well decide the result of the match. If Whittall and Strang can survive it, Zimbabwe will probably be safe. The weather remains hot and sunny, with plenty of fleecy cloud; the pitch is taking more spin, but the ball turns slowly. There is no sign at present that the weather will have the final say. TEA-TIME REPORT, 5TH DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND Zimbabwe's last three wickets did not quite succeed in guaranteeing their team a draw, and the match is set for a thrilling finish. England, needing 205 to win in a minimum of 37 overs, have to score at almost six an over and they are currently on course. Guy Whittall and Paul Strang continued to hold England's bowlers at bay after lunch. Atherton did not persist long with his new-ball bowlers and the spinners were soon on again. England won themselves no friends by their constant appeals for close catches off the pad -- sportsmanship and basic honesty were clearly being sacrificed in the pursuit of victory. Strang finally did push one off the bat into the leg trap and walked straight away, as did Henry Olonga later. Heath Streak, possibly the best Number Nine batsman in international cricket, came in at 10 here due to the use of a night- watchman and held firm. Whittall finally fell after reaching a sound, disciplined and determined fifty, mistiming a drive to be caught in the covers. Last man Olonga, a better batsman than his Test record suggests, did not last long. Just a few more minutes, a few more runs, and Zimbabwe would have been quite safe. England began with a bang, despite losing Mike Atherton early, chopping a ball from Olonga on to his stumps. But Nick Knight and Alec Stewart have played some astounding strokes against Streak and Olonga, and so far have got away with it. England will probably need a little luck to continue at this rate, but they have nothing to lose and might just do it. The final session should be one to remember. One just hopes it won't bring out the worst in the Barmy Army and the local supporters at Castle Corner; it could become volatile with alcohol being consumed. The cloud cover is light and the weather is unlkikely to play any further part. end of match REPORT, 5TH DAY, ZIMBABWE v ENGLAND This was one of the great Test match finishes, unique in that it finished in a draw with scores level. Never before has a team chasing a target got so close and yet failed to win. England, needing 205 to win and three off the final ball, scored only two, Gough was run out going for a third, and finished on 204 for six. Had England won, Zimbabwe would have had good cause to complain, as an umpiring error early in the innings allowed a seven-ball over, which cost Zimbabwe five runs -- the final ball was a wide, followed by a boundary. Zimbabwe, inexperienced in defending a target in normal crick- et, became increasingly desperate as Nick Knight and Alec Stewart batted so brilliantly that at one stage it looked as if England would win at a canter. Alistair Campbell gambled by giv- ing long spells to both his spinners, Paul Strang and Grant Flower, but Knight and Stewart kept up with the required run rate, pushing for easy singles with a wide-spread field and hit- ting the bad ball well for four; Stewart hit two superb sixes as well. Desperate, Zimbabwe fell back on increasingly defensive field settings and negative bowling tactics, and England began to fall a little behind. Finally Stewart, after a superb innings, tried to sweep Strang and skied a catch to fine leg. Hussain, in the same over, backed away and sliced a catch to cover. Dropped on 0 in the first innings, out for 0 in the second -- and a century in between. This was perhaps the turning point, as Knight was left in effect to win the match single-handed, and very nearly did so. Crawley was caught on the point boundary from a fierce slash, while Thorpe got a leading edge and lobbed a catch into the cov- ers. Gough came in to slog, but found it difficult getting bat on ball. With the crowd roaring in excitement, the last over ar- rived with England needing 13 to win, and Heath Strak bowling to Nick Knight. It was a battle of wits, with Streak`s main concern be- ing to keep the ball out of Knight`s way. A two was followed by a superb six over the leg-side boundary, and another two. Three runs were needed off the final ball. Knight drove power- fully into the covers, to Stuart Carlisle on the boundary. Run- ning as if their lives depended on it, the batsmen completed two, but a superb straight return made a third impossible. They had to try, Gough was easily run out, and history had been made. Carlisle, whose first four days of this Test had been disastrous, found unexpected blessing in two catches and the vital run-out. Knight, stranded on 96 after a fine first- innings fifty, was awarded Man of the Match, amid numerous competitors: Hussain, Stewart and Crawley for England, and Andy Flower and Paul Strang for Zimbabwe were all strong contenders. The match finished in good spirits, with the England team disappointed but able to ac- cept it, and their vociferous supporters slightly muted but hav- ing enjoyed all the excitement -- and the unique ending to a Test match. The Second Test will be anticipated with greater enthusiasm than ever; both teams doubtless now have more respect for each other and determined to clinch the series. Thanks :: Roger Stringer, ddyte Contributed by John.Ward (ZCU)