England (229 for 3 in 43.4 overs; Knight 80*, Collingwood 56*) beat Zimbabwe (228; G Flower 104, C Silverwood 3-43, J Snape 3-43) by seven wickets
Full scorecard England cruised to an emphatic seven-wicket win at Bulawayo, to carry off the five-match series 5-0. They have achieved almost all the objectives Nasser Hussain outlined before the tour, with some dodgy fielding and question-marks over Middlesex past and present -- Mark Ramprakash (out cheaply again) and Owais Shah (surprisingly left out today) -- just about the only entries on the debit side of the tour ledger.

Nick Knight played the anchor role, finishing with 80 not out and ending up with 302 runs in a series in which his lowest score was 41. He and Marcus Trescothick kick-started England's chase, before Trescothick skyed Doug Marillier to Grant Flower at midwicket in the eighth over (47 for 1). But the damage had already been done: Douglas Hondo crept down to fine leg with figures of 3-0-31-0 after Trescothick moseyed down the pitch and clouted him straight for two sixes, and a four that nearly cleared the ropes too.

Nasser Hussain started frenetically, driving Marillier's loopy offspin for six, before nearly being caught trying to repeat the shot. In between he had a close shave when Grant Flower hit the stumps from the covers as he scrambled back to safety.

Hussain then settled down, putting on 87 untroubled runs with Knight, and it was a surprise when he top-edged a sweep at Dirk Viljoen and was caught by Dion Ebrahim for 47 (134 for 2). Ramprakash also fell sweeping, bowled behind his legs by Grant Flower for 6 (151 for 3), but England were already so far ahead of the required run rate that it hardly mattered.

In came Paul Collingwood, fresh from impressive knocks in the previous two games. He glittered again, rushing to 56 off 46 balls with four fours and two big sixes. He drove well and straight, in contrast to Hussain and Ramprakash who had overdone the sweeps. To Collingwood fell the honour of hitting the winning runs, which came with 6.2 overs to spare.

Earlier Zimbabwe made a poor start, slumping to 7 for 2, recovered after a handy stand by the Flower brothers, and then collapsed again when a big total looked a possibility. Their last six wickets clattered for 24 runs. Chris Silverwood -- who made those two early breakthroughs in his first match of the tour -- finished with 3 for 43, and so did Jeremy Snape, who made up for some early waywardness with three late strikes.

Grant Flower's 104 was the highlight for Zimbabwe. He put behind him the horrors of Harare, where he made three runs in three innings, to make 200 in two knocks at Bulawayo, and his innings was a watchable mix of meaty mows and savvy slog-sweeps. He hit nine fours in his fifth one-day hundred. Sadly for Zimbabwe, who have now lost 12 one-dayers in a row, support was thin, and their stocks look low.

Steven Lynch is database director of Wisden Online.

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