Indeed when Campbell sliced White to Hussain at backward point with the score on 172 for 7 the game was as

Indeed when Campbell sliced White to Hussain at backward point with the score on 172 for 7, the game was as good as up.But if England cruised to victory for the third match in a row there is still fine tuning to be done. During Hussain’s absence Stewart has taken over the captaincy as well as his role as an opening batsman and yesterday’s hundred, the first by an England player for 28 matches, had all the Machiavellian intrigue of an endgame chess move by Gary Kasparov.Although he made a decent fist of things with a bright 34 off 37 balls, Hussain has to bat in the top four or he must bat against type. In fact, he was twice dropped, on seven and 20, trying to force the pace at No 6 with shots he does not normally play.He is unlikely to get his opening spot back either, especially after the recent success of Stewart and Marcus Trescothick. The Somerset left-hander, virtually stumbled on by the selectors, has been in fine form and a brace of cover-driven fours and an effortless pull for six once again threatened to caste Stewart in the role of spectator.It might have happened, too, had a bottom edge in the seventh over missed the stumps, but Trescothick’s departure for 20, left Stewart contemplating one of his favourite stages and mountain of overs to play with. He did not squander the opportunity, and dove-tailing with the differing styles of Flintoff and Graham Thorpe after Hick had gone for nought the Surrey man reached his third one-day hundred.Like Hussain, Stewart finds it difficult to slog effectively and prefers to use the pace of the ball to find the boundary, which he did eight times. He is able to improvise by giving himself room, and he was doing as much, when the left-arm spinner Viljoen bowled him with a yorker in the 46th over.It was with Thorpe that Stewart shared the largest stand (81 in 20 overs) of the innings.

If the scoring rate was not electric, Thorpe’s ability to nick, nudge and nurdle, singles and so keep the score ticking over, was a marvel and a facet Flintoff should look to add to his own game and he was twice missed trying to give it the kitchen sink.Both chances should have been snapped up by Andy Flower, but he has not been keeping well and his reticence to attempt the catches spoke of a man short on confidence. In contrast, England’s bowlers, after two excellent matches, are brimming with it. Once again, their discipline in making the batsmen work hard for every run paid dividends.EDGBASTON SCOREBOARDEngland won toss ENGLANDM E Trescothick b Streak 20 29 min, 20 balls, 2 fours, 1 six ÿA J Stewart b Viljoen 101 183 min, 144 balls, 8 fours A Flintoff c A Flower b Johnson 24 43 min, 28 balls, 4 fours G A Hick lbw b Johnson 0 2 min, 2 balls G P Thorpe b G Flower 33 70 min, 49 balls, 1 four *N Hussain c Viljoen b Whittall 34 50 min, 37 balls, 4 fours C White c Johnson b Streak 21 10 min, 11 balls, 2 sixes M A Ealham not out 9 11 min, 6 balls, 1 four A R Caddick b Streak 1 4 min, 2 balls D Gough not out 2 2 min, 2 balls Extras (lb5,w11,nb1) 17 Total (for 8, 206min, 50overs) 262Fall: 1-41 (Trescothick), 2-85 (Flintoff), 3-85 (Hick), 4-166 (Thorpe), 5-218 (Stewart), 6-246 (White), 7-251 (Hussain), 8-259 (Caddick).Did not bat: A D Mullally.Bowling: Streak 10-0-59-3 (w3) (6-0-29-1, 2-0-13-0, 2-0-17-2); Johnson 7-0-37-2 (w3) (2-0-20-0, 5-0-17-2); Mbangwa 10-0-43-0 (w2) (5-0-23-0, 5-0-20-0); Viljoen 7-0-27-1 (w2) (5-0-17-0, 2-0-10-1); Strang 4-0-20-0 (one spell); Whittall 7-0-31-1 (nb1,w1) (4-0-16-0, 2-0-10-0, 1-0-5-1); G Flower 5-0-40-1 (3-0-18-1, 2-0-22-0).Progress: 50: 41 min, 52 balls 100: 92 min, 126 balls 150: 135 min, 197 balls 200: 170 min, 250 balls. 250: 197 min, 289 balls.Stewart: 50: 112 min, 84 balls, 5 fours.

100: 181 min, 142 balls, 8 fours.ZIMBABWEN C Johnson c Stewart b Hick 52 G J Whittall c White b Caddick 3 A D R Campbell c Hussain b White 60 S V Carlisle c Stewart b Hick 0 M W Goodwin run out 3 G W Flower run out 9 *ÿA Flower c Stewart b White 4 D P Viljoen c Stewart b White 6 H H Streak c Flintoff b Gough 45 P A Strang not out 7 M Mbangwa not out 5 Extras (b1, lb5, w4, nb6) 16 Total (for 9, 50 overs) 210Fall: 1-25 (Whittall), 2-87 (Johnson),3-87 (Carlisle), 4-90 (Goodwin), 5-110 (G Flower), 6-123 (A Flower), 7-133 (Viljoen), 8-172 (Campbell), 9-203 (Streak).Bowling: Caddick 8-3-22-1; Gough 8-1-43-1; Mullally 9-1-37-0; Hick 7-0-37-2; Ealham 10-1-31-0; White 8-0-34-3.Umpires: M J Kitchen and D J Constant.. The brouhaha about Andy Flintoff’s involvement with the bathroom scales has at last died down. In the space of a few days he went from overweight dolt who clocked in at 17 stones plus to swashbuckling hero on the basis of an adventurous 42 not out in a one-day game against Zimbabwe at Old Trafford. The brouhaha about Andy Flintoff’s involvement with the bathroom scales has at last died down.