West Indies seal series with 128-run win

West Indies 481 (Lara 191, Hinds 81, Price 5-199) and 128 (Price 4-36) beat Zimbabwe 377 (Vermeulen 118, Wishart 96, Collymore 4-70) and 104 (Streak 33*) by 128 runs
Scorecard

It took just 40 minutes on the final morning for West Indies to take the final Zimbabwean wicket and seal, by 128 runs, Brian Lara's first victory away from home as West Indies' captain.

Zimbabwe resumed on 90 for 9 and, thanks to the resolution of the last pair, who showed more fighting spirit than any of their predecessors, managed to lift their score into three figures, and to 104, before the inevitable. They were even cheered on by a few hundred voluble spectators, who had turned up for what might well have been a single ball.

Corey Collymore and Merv Dillon began with a couple of maidens before two nervous fours off the edge of Heath Streak's bat got Zimbabwe going. Blessing Mahwire held up his end well, but his stonewalling effort finally came to an end when a ball from Dillon proved too good, breaking through his defences to hit his stumps and end the series.

Streak, who ended up undefeated with 33, should have sent himself in earlier than No. 9, as he seems to be the only batsman in the team at the moment who is capable of holding his nerve in a crisis. He had a fine series with both bat and ball, although his bowling figures did him little justice. He was the bowler the West Indian batsmen were content to keep out while they scored runs at the other end.

At least Zimbabwe matched West Indies for most of this too-brief series, which contained much thrilling cricket. Had they still possessed batsmen of the ability and temperament of Andy Flower and Murray Goodwin, they might today have been celebrating victory instead of going down at the final hurdle in such humiliating fashion.