It was Zimbabwe's third victory in 32 Tests, although they had previously lost 10 of their 15 away games.

Captain Alastair Campbell says his country now deserves more matches against the established Test nations.

This win came with almost two days to spare, as the visitors made a second innings 162 for three.

Murray Goodwin guided them home wth an unbeaten 73 after the home team collapsed to 103 in their second innings - Pakistan's fifth-lowest score in test cricket.

As soon as Andy Flower struck the winning boundary, the Zimbabwean players embraced and ran on to the ground to congratulate the two batsmen.

In recognition of the visitors' historic feat, the entire Pakistan team went to the Zimbabwean dressing room to offer their congratulations.

A hundred wickets for paceman Streak

Goodwin belted 13 boundaries in his innings and raced to his half-century off just 82 balls. It was his sixth half-century in eight tests.

Zimbabwe, resuming at 70 for one, took just 101 minutes to reach victory but not before being tested by Wasim Akram.

He added two more wickets to finish with three for 47. For the match, he took eight for 99.

Grant Flower was caught behind off an outswinger and then skipper Campbell's innings was ended by Wasim with a nasty bouncer that found the hands of Ijaz Ahmad at gully.

The veteran all-rounder now has 354 Test wickets and needs one more to join Australia's Dennis Lillee as the seventh most successful bowler of all time.

History men

Zimbabwe entered the realm of Test cricket in 1992, and also gained their first home victory over Pakistan - in 1994-95 by an innings and 64 runs in Harare.

Last month they beat India by 61 runs at the same venue.

This Test was a milestone, not only because of the victory with bowler Heath Streak becoming the first player to take 100 wickets for his country.

And Grant Flower became the second to make 2,000 runs following elder brother Andy, who got there last month.

Afterwards Campbell said his team's growing stature means they deserve more matches.

"We have been playing test cricket for six years now but have never met Australia or West Indies. If we have to improve and flourish, we need to play more against them," Campbell said.

"We have played nearly half our games against Pakistan either at home or abroad and have also played a lot against Sri Lanka and India."

Campbell, who has played in all Zimbabwe's tests, hoped the win would boost the game in his country.

"I am confident that the interest of the people will grow and more youngsters would take up the sport."

Pakistan skipper Aamir Sohail blamed the selectors for the defeat. "They are responsible for whatever is happening to the Pakistan cricket team. They are inconsistent and don't have any clue what they want and where they are heading," he said.

"Now I will make sure that they listen to me," he promised.

"They have been changing players after every game and that's precisely why we lost the test series to Australia."

The win puts Zimbabwe one up in the three match series with two matches to play - the second Test at Lahore between 10-14 December and the third at Faisalabad between 17-21 December.

Final day scorecard

Pakistan first innings 296 (Ijaz Ahmad 87, Yousuf Youhana 75, Streak 4-93, Mbangwa 3-40)

Zimbabwe first innings 238 (Neil Johson 107, Wasim Akram 5- 52, Waqar Younis 4-78)

Pakistan second innings 103 (Henry Olonga 4-42, Mpumelelo Mbangwa 3-23)

Zimbabwe second innings overnight 70-1

• G Rennie c Ijaz b Wasim Akram 6
• G Flower c Moin b Wasim Akram 31
• M Goodwin not out 73
• A Campbell c Ijaz b Wasim Akram 12
• A Flower not out 17

Extras (b4 lb8 w2 nb9) 23

Total (for three wickets) 162

Fall of wicket: 1-13 2-94 3-130

Bowling: Wasim Akram 17-6-47-3 (nb8), Waqar Younis 11-1-51- 0, Aqib Javed 13.2-4-36-0 (nb1), Azhar Mahmood 3-1-3-0 (w2), Mushtaq Ahmad 4-2-13-0.

Zimbabwe won by seven wickets