England Stroll To Series Win
By Paul Bakel
June 7 2003
England completed consecutive innings victories in the second Test against Zimbabwe at Chester-le-Street to claim only their second series win in eight.
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England completed consecutive
innings victories in the second Test against Zimbabwe at Chester-le-Street
to claim only their second series win in eight. Nasser Hussain's side completed their 2-0 win with 12 overs to spare on
the third day. England won by an innings and 69 runs as Zimbabwe were all out for 253
in their second innings. Although Zimbabwe, resuming the day on 41 for one, made a better fist
of their follow-on than they did in succumbing for 94 in two-and-a-quarter
hours on Friday, a steady trickle of wickets in each session left them on
the verge of defeat. James Anderson struck in the eighth over of the morning, two balls
after Ashley Giles fluffed a chance from Dion Ebrahim at third slip. Another full delivery squeezed off the inside edge of Stuart Carlisle's
bat to short midwicket where Robert Key dived forward to clasp the ball
above the turf. That ended a stubborn stand of 60 for the second wicket and despite
further resistance from Ebrahim, whose 123-ball 55 was his second
half-century of the series, another marginal leg before decision which
gave Steve Harmison his first wicket of the innings exposed the middle
order. Grant Flower and Sean Ervine both chopped into their stumps, off
Anderson and Harmison respectively, either side of Tatenda Taibu poking to
silly point off the left-arm spin of Ashley Giles. Some spirited hitting from Travis Friend, who reached his half-century
from his 80th ball, merely delayed the inevitable. But by that time captain Heath Streak had been sacrificed in freak
fashion - Harmison failed to hold on to a return catch from Friend and the
ball careered into the stumps at the non-striker's end. Hussain's spectacular catch, running from mid-on, provided Anderson
with a fourth wicket - in the third over with the new ball - when Andy
Blignaut failed to deal with a short ball for the second time in the
match. Ray Price was undone by a Harmison bouncer, gloving behind to Stewart,
before Hussain brought the Durham paceman back on at the Lumley end to
york Douglas Hondo and finish the innings-and-69-run win. Both Anderson and Harmison finished with figures of four for 55. England debutant Richard Johnson was voted man of the match.
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