Eng vs Zim: NatWest Series

England vs Zimbabwe at Headingley

Torrential rain over the past couple of days meant the ground staff working most of the night trying to allow play to start on time. However more rain came in the early morning and ruined all the hard work completed by the ground staff.

With at least three hours of cleaning up time should the rain had relented at the scheduled start, would have meant no play until at least mid afternoon and with a cut off time of 4:30 there would only be an hour or so to play with however luck took a change of heart and the rain stopped and the ground began to slowly dry out.

At 3:50pm the players emerged to a wet ground that was just about playable, and the prospect of getting in on the 20/20 act that has taken the country by storm in the last month as the game had been rearranged to just 25 overs each.

After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, England slumped to the precarious position of 13 for 3 in typically zippy Headingley conditions.

V Solanki was first to go in the third over with the score on just 11 as he attempted to play a rather extravagant shot through the leg side and only succeeded in getting a leading edge for G Flower to take the catch in the 3rd slip region.

Just four balls later the destructive M Trescothick fended at a ball leaving him and got a thick outside edge that went hard and low to G Flower again at 3rd slip, although M Trescothick stood his ground the catch was perfectly acceptable and M Trescothick headed back to the pavilion for just 2 (8).

The wicket bought a slight surprise in the young wicketkeeper C Read was promoted up the order, however he was soon on his way back as pushed to mid on and tries a desperate single however G Brent hits the only stump visible and the referral to the TV umpire showed that he was just short of his ground.

A Flintoff was next to appeared and with his captain they set about consolidating the innings and get a decent platform to attack later in the innings, however A Flintoff struggled to get going and only made 6 from 12 balls before attempting a big shot over the deep mid wicket area and T Friend took a fine catch.

At 4/32 in the 9th over England were in all sorts of trouble, however M Vaughan was looking comfortable in his home conditions and another Yorkshire player joined him out in the middle in the form of A McGrath. The pair continued to play the shots and keep the score ticking over and got the score to 81/4 in the 16th over, before the dark clouds that had threaten for the pass 15 minutes or so finally closed in and while it was still relatively light M Vaughan was happy to stay out there, however as the rain became harder and harder the two umpires D Shepherd and S Taufel had little option to take the players from the field. However due to the fact that the cut of time had passed by meant the game was forced to be abandoned.

Match Summary

England: 81/4 (16.3 Overs) - M Vaughan 35*, A McGrath 15*; H Streak 2/13 (4 overs), A Blignaut 1/14 (4 overs)

Zimbabwe: - DNB

Match Result: - No result, Match Abandoned

England's attention now turns to the day night match at Old Trafford against South Africa, however poor weather is expected throughout the week and the last thing the English side need is another washout. Meanwhile Zimbabawe have a rest until the weekend before they face both sides over back-to-back days.

Posted by Richard