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Lord's
18 - 21 May 2000
England won the toss and sent Zimbabwe in to bat under threatening skies. The pitch provided the bowlers with assistance and Zimbabwe were very quickly three down for only eight runs. Andy Flower and Goodwin then briefly stabilised the innings before Flower (24) was dismissed for what became the top score of the innings. By lunch Zimbabwe were in a really mess at 6 for 67. In a rain interrupted afternoon session, England thrust home their advantage and dismissed Zimbabwe for 83. Giddins was the best of the English bowlers with 5 for 15 off 7 overs.
England then batted through to be 1 for 29 runs at tea. Rain then ended play for the day. On a rain affected second day, England batted into a first innings lead with only two batsmen back in the pavilion. By stumps they had only lost one further wicket due to Zimbabwe missing their chances. In complete control England were 3 for 175 with a lead of 92 runs.
England batted on through most of the third day with Hick (101) posting his sixth test ton and Stewart being stranded on a top score of 124 not out. England were dismissed after tea having amassed 415 runs while Streak returned the best test bowling performance of any Zimbabwian with 6 for 87. This left Zimbabwe with a first innings deficit of 332 and little chance of anything other than an innings loss. Zimbabwe's batsmen then capitulated to end the day at 5 for 39.
On the fourth morning rain delayed play for three hours before England were able to go in for the kill. The remaining batsmen crumbled for 123 runs - the last wicket earning 31 of these - and a mere 209 runs short of forcing England to bat again. To scorer for Zimbabwe was Strang with 37 while Gough and Caddick each took 4 wickets.
Second Test
Trent Bridge
1 - 5 June 2000
Rain delayed the start of the second test until after lunch. Zimbabwe won the toss and asked England to bat first - hoping for quick wickets. However, without the injured Olonga they were unable to break through in the first session of play with England safely thought to 96 without loss. England continued to bat through the rest around Attheron's sheet anchor innings (95*) of the day's play finishing at stumps at 203 for the loss of three wickets.
After rain prevented any play on the second day, it also delayed play on the third day. When play began 75 minutes late on the third day Zimbabwe fought back. Attheron secured his 14th test century and top scored with 136 as England batted on to be all out for 374 after tea. For Zimbabwe, debutant Nkala was the most successful bowler with 3 for 82 off 31 overs. Zimbabwe then batted out the rest of the day until light forced the teams from the field an hour early with 51 runs for two wickets.
After an overnight thunderstorm left the field partly underwater, play on the fourth day was delayed until after lunch. Zimbabwe batted though to pass the follow on mark at tea for the loss of only one more wicket. In the evening session, Goodwin brought up his third test hundred to end the day at 148 not out and the Zimbabwe total 4 down for 285 - still 89 runs behind with a draw looming.
Surprisingly, Zimbabwe chose to declare the innings closed overnight and play on the last day commenced with England at the crease. The best of the English bowlers was Gough with 3 for 66 off 20 overs. Soon after England had lost 3 batsmen for only 12 runs before they recovered to be 4 for 60 at lunch. Wickets kept tumbling and by tea they had staggered to 7 for 125 and a lead of 214. Considering the circumstances, this was an unattainable lead and a more attacking choice would have been to declare. Instead they batted on to ensure the draw and were dismissed for 147 with about an hour of play remaining. Top scorer was Atherton with 34 while Whittall took 3 for 14 off 8 overs.
This left Zimbabwe with an unlikely 237 runs from a maximum 78 balls before stumps. They ended at 1 for 25 when the match ended early with Whittall and Grant Flower each making 12 while Caddick took the only wicket.
