Zimbabwe swept.

A superb 6th wicket stand between Michael Vaughan and Geraint Jones lead England to a 4-0 series victory.

After winning the toss and electing to bat the makeshift opening pair of Ian Bell and debutant Matthew Prior added a rapid stand of 55 before offered up a simple catch off the impressive Edward Rainsford, who bowled his 10 over stint in one go from the off, picking up the second wicket (Prior falling for 35) in the process, to finish with the outstanding figures of 10-1-29-2 (including being hit for 10 runs in his last over)

His replacement was Stuart Matsikenyeri, and he initiated a collapse by removing both Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen in his first over as the spinners strangled the run rate, allowing just 15 runs in 6 overs before the pressure told and Paul Collingwood was comfortably run out by a direct hit from Matsikenyeri and England had tumbled to 104-5.

Geraint Jones joined his captain, and the pair set about repairing the damage, but it took until the 35th over before they finally scored a boundary as the accurate bowling allowed a succession of 4 and 5 run overs.

However the back-up bowling was weak, and Jones started to accelerate, as he smashed 2 sixes in the 40th over off Brendan Taylor.

With 10 overs to go, the score had recovered to 171-5, and although Matsikenyeri finished his spell by conceding only 2 runs, when the quicker bowlers came back, the runs came at a rapid rate as the settled batsmen showed how by staying in through the accurate, but unpenetrative bowlers, they were able to cash in by virtue of having the wickets in hand at the death.

Such was the nature of Vaughan's innings that his first boundary was the six that brought up his half century in the 45th over, but that signaled the onslaught that saw the last 6 overs all garner double figures as yet again the back up bowlers from Zimbabwe didn't do the job.

When they finally removed Jones in the final over , to a catch on the boundary, the pair had added the 3rd highest 6th wicket stand in ODI history, a round 150, and England were well on the way to their final total of 261-6, Vaughan's last 43 runs coming from only 23 balls, and Jones adding 52 from his last 33.

It was obvious that the Zimbabwean side were 2 bowlers short, as Rainsford, Utseya and Matsikenyeri had a combined haul of 4-97 from 30 overs, only to see the other 4 bowlers used leak 164 from 20 overs.

With a target of 262, Zimbabwe needed a good start, but the combination of superb economy from Alex Wharf and some more erratic, but destructive bowling from Darren Gough saw 3 wickets fall in the first 8 overs, all 3 to Gough in a 6 over opening burst that also saw him bowl 7 wides and a no ball. From 22-3 a brief recovery was threatened, but it was nipped in the bud by a double bowling change as Simon Jones removed Mark Vermeulen with the first ball he bowled - 43-4 and the target was a far away dream.

Jones bowled a great spell, conceding just 1 run off his first 4 overs as Tatenda Taibu and Hamilton Masakadza fought hard to avoid humiliation - the pair managing to comfortably deal with Gareth Batty's off breaks, although runs were hard to come by as Collingwood continued to be naggingly accurate in his line, and he eventually frustrated Taibu into giving up a simple catch to Prior in the deep. The pair had added 75 runs to give the score some respectability, but the required run rate had crept up to 8 and it continued to rise as the accuracy from Batty and Collingwood continued, and Masakadza was also undone by frustration, walking too far across his stumps and being bowled for 66.

With both bowlers finishing their spells in tandem, Zimbabwe had 12 overs to score another 126 runs, so Vaughan turned to his less regular bowlers to see out the game.

First up was Pietersen, who in the week had expressed that his best option to get a regular spot in the side lied with him improving his off spin. On the evidence of the 2 overs today, he'll need to improve it a lot, as Elton Chigumbara hoisted him for 2 massive sixes in the total of 22 he conceded.

In between he did manage to take a fine catch as Gough picked up a 4th wicket, but with 8 overs to go and 96 runs needed, the fun really started.

Ian Bell had never been much of a bowler for Warwickshire up until 2004, but here he turned in an almost Clarkesque performance to wrap up the tail.

His 3rd ball in ODIs saw Chigumbara clean bowled attempting a rather extravagant leg side shot, and although Tinashe Panyangara and Prosper Utseya saw off 2 overs from Simon Jones and then, very bizarrely, Andrew Strauss' first over in professional limited overs Cricket, Bell removed first Panyangara and then clean bowled Rainsford second ball to end the match and series in a very one-sided result.

The bowling at the end summed up the whole series - a waste of time from start to finish, and although England will take some positives from the series (Vaughan's man of the series award for 3 half centuries in 4 knocks being the major one, along with a successful performance in back-to-back games from Simon Jones, Paul Collingwood's bowling coming on to the extent that he bowled more overs than any other Englishman, and Geraint Jones playing 2 innings that Chris Read would be unlikely to replicate regardless of standard of opposition), there will also be the negatives (Ian Bell may have got 2 half centuries, but his strike rate didn't do the greatest to inspire, Collingwood and Strauss both disappointed when they should have been consolidating their status as first choice picks and Gough may have been joint highest wicket taker in the series, but his bowling was to say the least erratic, and much better batsmen would punish him a lot more for it)

ENGLAND 261-6
Vaughan 90*(99), G Jones 80(75), Rainsford 2-29(10), Matsikenyeri 2-35(10), Utseya 0-33(10)
ZIMBABAWE 187
Masakadza 66(83), Gough 4-34(8), Bell 3-9(3.4), Collingwood 2-34(10), Wharf 0-14(6)

Posted by Marc