England pacers wreaked havoc as the hosts inflicted a huge 152-run defeat onminnows Zimbabwe in a Pool D match of the ICC Champions Trophy here today.
Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff took three wickets each as Zimababwe, setan imposing target of 300, crashed to 147 all out in 39 overs in the match thathad to be stopped yesterday due to rain.
According to the rules of the tournament, the match began from where itstopped the previous day with England resuming at 198 for five in 38 overs afterbeing put in to bat.
After Vikram Solanki's well-crafted 62, it was Paul Collingwood's turn toplay the sheet anchor's role with an unbeaten 80 (three sixes, three fours) off93 balls while cameos by Geraint Jones (38) and Ashley Giles (23) gave the hoststheir best ever one-day international score against the African side.
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Zimbabwe were off to a disastrous start, losing five wickets for just 64 runsbefore captain Tatenda Taibu and Elton Chigumbura put up a brief resistance,adding 42 runs for the sixth wicket, but the enormity of the task proved justtoo much for an inexperienced bunch of players in the end.
Harmison took two of his wickets in the 10th over to rattle the Zimbabweinnings before a late order collapse saw them lose three wickets for theaddition of just five runs.
Darren Gough and Giles took two wickets each in a disciplined bowling displayby England.
PTI
