da betsson： In conditions that were more akin to the ninety-minute game at that other part of Old Trafford, Zimbabwe decided to make first use of a pitch which showed a sparse scattering of grass and then decided to register their lowest score against England
Andy Jalil13-Jul-2000
Alan Mullally makes his mark
Photo © CricInfo
Zimbabwe find good for ducksIn conditions that were more akin to the ninety-minute game at that other part of Old Trafford, Zimbabwe decided to make first use of a pitch which showed a sparse scattering of grass and then decided to register their lowest score against England.Not taking anything away from England’s effort in this fine victory by eightwickets, but it is understandable, if not inevitable, that an extent ofcomplacency does creep into a side that has achieved an immediate target, inthe case of Zimbabwe, a place in the final of the NatWest Series.Their batting was one of gay abandon, the highest being two individualscores in the twenties and four ducks – the fourth one was not out – in an innings which was in total contrast to those that Zimbabwe have produced so far in this series. But that was when it mattered so much to them, today it was oflesser consequence to them.Admirable Alan – and the others did well too England bowlers did, nevertheless, did an admirable job. Allan Mullally, in particular was in fine form, his eight overs conceded only 13 and in the process he claimed the both the fifth and sixth wickets on the total of 65. Mark Ealham was most economical , his ten overs cost only 19 and Craig White’s two for 13 deserves a mention. To add to Zimbabwe’s batting problems, England’s opening Batsman Marcus Trescothick turned his arm over for 1.4 overs and walked off with the last two wickets. At one stage Zimbabwe were 114 for six and 9 balls later they were all out for 114. That just about sums up their time at the crease.Flintoff’s fireworks
Well, the weather did seem more like NovemberEngland made light work of their task. They were looking good on 57 for onewhen Trescothick got out and fhen came the fireworks from Andy Flintoff andGraeme Hick. Their unbroken stand of 58 came from only 48 balls in the courseof which they hit five boundaries and three sixes. Paul Strang was the bowlerto suffer from the sixes, the last of which, from Hick, equalled the scoreof 114 and then he took the winning single.Hick’s 23 came from as many balls and man-of-the-match Flintoff, unbeaten on42 said afterwards, aiming his remark at the critical press he has had recently:” I played all right for a fat boy. I’ve had a bad week, the bestway to sort that out is to score runs.”Remarking on his promotion up the batting order, he said:” It was good tobat at number three, I have been doing that for Lancashire, I enjoy that.”Cumbes: Day-night cricket is on songOnce again, a day-night match proved a success. The Chief Executive atLancashire, Jim Cumbes said:” What this sort of thing, with lights and musicand so on does is to let the crowd take part in the day. They wave theirfours and sixes and clap to the music and chant along as well. It makes themfeel that they belong to what’s going on out there.”If we are trying to get a newer and younger audience in then we must havethis because this is tthe sort of thing that they are going to go for. Wehave seen this in ice hockey here in Manchester and we have seen it inbasket-ball. To a lesser degree we have seen it at Manchester United aswell, so we are following a kind of trend.”They are even talking about it inn the localHe then added: “I’ll give you an example from personal experience. At mylocal pub, there are some people who had never been to cricket before, theycame to a floodlit game last year, and when I spoke to them they said, ‘wedon’t know much about cricket, but we really had a great night and we willcertainly be back.’ Now that is the kind of thing we want to hear.”Cumbes, who played first-class cricket for Worcestershire and kept goal forWest Bromwich Albion and knows all about playing in the presence of a largecrowd said:” Considering it wasn’t a nice day, it was grey and cold, we gotabout eleven thousand people and that is not bad. It helped to create agreat atmosphere.”