It was the 1619th ODI in cricket history. It was England's 317th and Zimbabwe's 157th ODI match. It was the 16th match between the two teams. The record now reads : England 9, Zimbabwe 7. The fifth wicket partnership of 89 runs between Andy and Grant Flower is the highest for Zimbabwe for this wicket against England. This outstrips the previous highest stand of 59 between Craig Evans and Andy Flower at Harare on 01-01-1997. The 134 run partnership for the third wicket between Alec Stewart and Graeme Hick is the highest for England for any wicket against Zimbabwe. The previous record stand for England was 128 for the first wicket between Nasser Hussain and Nick Knight at Kimberley on 30-01-2000. The previous highest partnership for the third wicket for England against Zimbabwe was 123 run between Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe at Nottingham on 25-05-1999. Alec Stewart (97) got out in the 'nineties' for the second time in his career. The previous such occasion for him was against India at Jaipur on 18-01-1993 when he made 91. He became the fifth English batsman to become a victim of 'nervous nineties' on two occasions after Allan Lamb (4), Graham Gooch (3), Chris Broad (2), Graeme Hick (2) and Nick Knight (2). Alec Stewart's aggregate of 408 runs in seven matches in the series is the fourth highest by a batsman in a series (or tournament) other than a World Cup or a World Series Cricket (played in Australia). The record is held by India's Sachin Tendulkar who aggregated 435 runs in five matches in Coca-Cola Cup in Shajah in April 1998. Other players with 400 plus run-aggregate in a series/tournament are Pakistan's Aamir Sohail (432 runs in 8 matches in Mandela Trophy in 1994-95), Sri Lanka's Aravinda de Silva (410 runs in 5 matches in Singer Akai Trophy in 1996-97) and West Indian Desmond Haynes( 404 runs in 5 matches in series against New Zealand in 1984-85). Darren Gough has now taken 55 wickets in 32 matches on English soil. He is now only one short of Ian Botham's record of most wickets on English soil. Botham had taken his 56 wickets in 47 matches. The tournament win is the fifth for England in ODIs and first since 1997-98 when it won the four nations Singer-Akai Champions Trophy in Sharjah. England's other three title wins came in 1986-87 season. The details :
Tournament Period Venue Runner-up Captain
Benson&Hedges Challenge Dec-Jan 1987 Australia Pakistan M Gatting
Benson&Hedges WorldSeries Jan-Feb 1987 Australia Australia M Gatting
Sharjah Cup Apr 1987 Sharjah ++ J Emburey
Singer-Akai Champions Trophy Dec 1997 Sharjah WestIndies Hollioake
Natwest Series Jul 2000 England Zimbabwe Stewart&Hussain
++ Winner was decided on the round-robin basis.
Alec Stewart won his eighth Man of the Match award. At the end of the tournament :Overall ODI record:
England: played 317, won 160, lost 146, tied 2 and abandoned 9.
Zimbabwe: played 157, won 42, lost 107, tied 4 and abandoned 4.
West Indies: played 406, won 241, lost 152, tied 5 and abandoned 8.
Captaincy record:
Nasser Hussain: played 12, won 7 and lost 5.
Alec Stewart: played 35, won 15, lost 19 and abandoned 1.
Andy Flower: played 52, won 12, lost 35, tied 2 and abandoned 3.
Jimmy Adams: played 16, won 7, lost 7, tied 1 and abandoned 1.
