OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 10.00pm.
ZIMBABWE paceman Henry Olonga sent England to a hefty 104-run one-day defeat on Friday.
Olonga ripped through the top five in the England batting order and finished with a personal best six for 19 — the finest figures by a Zimbabwean in the limited overs format.
England fell for 107 off 34.2 overs in a forlorn attempt to beat Zimbabwe’s 211 for seven.
Zimbabwe opener Neil Johnson narrowly missed scoring his country’s first one-day century against England, but his 97 guided them to a respectable total.
Olonga claimed his first victim in the fifth over when he trapped Nick Knight for five. Two balls later, he had Graeme Hick caught behind for a duck by wicketkeeper Andy Flower.
The Zambian-born fast bowler then took a wicket in each of the 11th, 13th and 15th overs, when he had Vikram Solanki caught by Murray Goodwin at point for 14, yorked Nasser Hussain off the edge for 15 and induced Chris Adams, on one, to steer a delivery to Johnson at second slip.
That left England floundering on 47 for five, and an over later they were 47 for six when swing bowler John Rennie had Mark Alleyne caught behind for four.
Six overs after that England’s dismal performance reached a new low when Mark Ealham was nonsensically run out for two by Heath Streak from the square leg boundary in attempting to take a third run.
The rest of England’s batsmen held on for 13 more overs, with Chris Read making England’s top score of 23 before he was last out after heaving the second ball of Olonga’s second spell to Guy Whittall at deep cover.
Johnson’s 97, the highest score in one-day internationals at Newlands, punctuated an otherwise lacklustre Zimbabwe batting display.
The tall left-hander and Grant Flower put on 56 for the first wicket, but Flower, on 23, skied a ball from medium pacer Alleyne to Hick at backward square leg in the 11th over.
Four balls later and with the total unchanged, Alleyne sprinted from his fielding position at mid-off to mid-on to collect Johnson’s drive and run Alistair Campbell out for a duck with a direct hit at the striker’s end.
Zimbabwe never recovered from the double blow, and Johnson’s composed performance was the sole reason they managed to post a respectable total at a ground where batting after dark is made more difficult by the ball’s exaggerated movement through the air. — Reuters