England 248-7 (50 overs)
Zimbabwe 165 all out (46.5 overs)
England win by 85 runs.

Graeme Hick produced a brilliant all-round display to give England a crushing victory in the one-day international series against Zimbabwe.

In his first international in his home city, Harare, Hick smashed a fluent 80 with the bat to put the tourists in command.

And he followed that by taking a five-wicket haul with his off-spin to send Zimbabwe crashing to a dismal defeat.

Hick may have stolen the limelight, but it was highly polished display by the whole team - particularly in the field, where they offered Zimbabwe no respite at all.

England have won all three games in the series so far, with one more match to go - in Harare on Wednesday - before the long tour comes to an end.

Crushing innings

England posted a testing victory target of 249, thanks largely to Hick's dominant knock, as he crashed the ball to all parts of the ground.

For the first time in the series Nasser Hussain's men found run-gathering a straightforward business as they exploited a perfect pitch.

But in reply Zimbabwe suffered a double setback almost immediately as paceman Darren Gough dismissed both openers cheaply.

England's bowlers learned from the mistakes of their opposition counterparts, who struggled to keep their discipline and surrendered the advantage.

Gough and new-ball partner Andy Caddick - who conceded just seven runs from his eight overs - offered no free runs and the scoring rate dropped to miniscule proportions.

In effect it was the strike pair's efforts that gave Hick the chance to claim his best ever one-day figures, as a succession of batsmen were sent back to the pavilion as they looked to force the pace.

The frustration certainly proved too much for Murray Goodwin, who tried to throw off the shackles when Hick's part-time spin was introduced - but instead he was well caught by Alan Mullally running around on the boundary.

Stuart Carlisle was the next to fall as a result of the desperate attempt to pick up the run-rate. Carlisle, whose 41 was the bedrock of his side's innings, was run out well short of his ground by a direct hit from dead-eye fielder Nick Knight.

Hick had Grant Flower stumped as he came down the wicket and Mark Ealham then did well to take a catch coming over his shoulder off Dirk Viljoen.

Wicketkeeper Chris Read's second stumping was even better than his first, as he whipped off the bails to see off captain Andy Flower for 21.

The dismissal of Bryan Strang - to another superb Mullally catch - gave Hick match figures of 5-33.

And Mullally and Craig White helped mop up the tail to put Zimbabwe out of their misery for 165.

In contrast to sluggish Zimbabwe, England's batsmen had got off to a flying start, after being put in and surviving the early loss of skipper Hussain.

But after Hick and Darren Maddy had set up the possibility of a huge total, the home side managed to slow up the run flow in the latter stages of the innings, as Viljoen sparked a middle-order collapse.

Hick, making his first England appearance in his home city, passed 50 for the 24th time in his England limited overs career.

The Zimbabwe-born batsman completed his half-century from just 50 balls as the home side's bowlers were made to suffer.

But Hick's hopes of marking his international bow in Harare with a century were dashed when he was run out by Murray Goodwin following a rash call from the other major contributor with the bat, Maddy.

Flying start

Hick put on a vital 81-run stand for the second wicket with Nick Knight to take the game away from Zimbabwe in the early stages of the innings.

Knight, who played an uncharacteristic supporting role in the partnership, was eventually dismissed trying to force the pace, as he scooped a Henry Olonga delivery to mid-on for 26.

The loss of Knight did not end the torment for Zimbabwe, however.

Maddy proved an able replacement and added 64 in tandem with Hick.

And after the departure of the senior player, Maddy took centre stage and went on to complete an impressive 50 from 79 deliveries.

But Maddy became a victim of his own over-confidence as he tried a reverse sweep off Viljoen and Gary Brent hung onto the chance.

It was the first of three wickets in successive overs for Viljoen, as England stuttered from 198-4 to 207-7.

Craig White and Andy Caddick, who smashed a six off OIonga, produced a late flurry of runs to take England close to the 250-mark at the end of their 50 overs.

White followed up his match-winning efforts in Bulawayo to finish unbeaten on 27, while Caddick hit a quickfire 21 not out.

Third One Day International: Zimbabwe v England
20/02/00 at Harare

England beat Zimbabwe by 85 runs Scorecard correct at 15:00 BST

Zimbabwe 163 all out (46.5overs)
England 248 for 7 (50overs) , overs completed




Zimbabwe innings

Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
NC Johnson		b Gough	7	23	1	-
ADR Campbell	c White	b Gough	2	7	-	-
SV Carlisle		run out	41	80	4	-
MW Goodwin	c Mullally	b Hick	28	62	1	-
A Flower	st Read	b Hick	21	38	-	-
GW Flower	st Read	b Hick	5	9	-	-
DP Viljoen	c Ealham	b Hick	4	7	-	-
HH Streak	c Hussain	b Mullally	7	14	-	-
BC Strang	c Mullally	b Hick	13	14	-	1
GB Brent		not out	13	15	2	-
HK Olonga	c Knight	b White	11	13	2	-
Extras	0b 7lb 3w 1nb		11
TOTAL:	46.5 overs		163

Fall of wickets: 1-5 (5 Campbell, 12 mins), 2-16 (11 Johnson, 16 mins), 3-83 (67 Goodwin, 75 mins), 4-91 (8 Carlisle, 14 mins), 5-104 (13 Flower, 9 mins), 6-112 (8 Viljoen, 4 mins), 7-124 (12 Flower, 20 mins), 8-126 (2 Streak, - mins), 9-146 (20 Strang, 15 mins), 10-163 (17 Olonga, 10 mins)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
A R Caddick	8	4	7	0
D Gough	6	2	10	2
A D Mullally	10	1	43	1
C White	5.5	0	35	1
M A Ealham	7	0	28	0
G A Hick	10	2	33	5

England innings

Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
N Hussain	c Campbell	b Strang	1	8	-	-
NV Knight	c Strang	b Olonga	26	38	2	-
GA Hick		run out	80	95	10	-
DL Maddy	c Brent	b Viljoen	53	83	3	-
VS Solanki	c Carlisle	b Brent	14	20	1	-
C White		not out	27	33	1	-
MA Ealham		b Viljoen	0	2	-	-
CMW Read	c &	b Viljoen	2	5	-	-
AR Caddick		not out	21	19	1	1
Extras	0b 4lb 17w 3nb		24
TOTAL:	7 wkts, 50 overs		248

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (4 Hussain, 9 mins), 2-85 (81 Knight, 58 mins), 3-149 (64 Hick, 60 mins), 4-171 (22 Solanki, 23 mins), 5-198 (27 Maddy, 15 mins), 6-198 (0 Ealham, 0 mins), 7-207 (9 Read, 5 mins) Did not bat: D Gough, A D Mullally

Bowler	O	M	R	W
H H Streak	8	0	44	0
B C Strang	10	0	34	1
N C Johnson	2	0	16	0
H K Olonga	6	0	44	1
G W Flower	10	0	37	0
G B Brent	7	0	42	1
D P Viljoen	6	0	20	3
A D R Campbell	1	0	7	0

Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to field

Umpires: I D Robinson, G R Evans

Zimbabwe
A D R Campbell , N C Johnson , S V Carlisle , M W Goodwin , A Flower (capt) (wkt) , G W Flower , H H Streak , D P Viljoen , G B Brent , B C Strang , H K Olonga ,

England
N Hussain (capt) , N V Knight , G A Hick , D L Maddy , V S Solanki , C White , M A Ealham , C M W Read (wkt) , A R Caddick , D Gough , A D Mullally ,