Delighted Williams sinks England

Pakistan 78 for 2 beat New Zealand 77 (Anwar Ali 5-34) by eight wickets
Scorecard

Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams said before the tournament he was targeting England as a must-win game and he led from the front as his side secured a two-wicket win that ensured they topped Group D.

They now face holders Pakistan in the quarter-finals while England have an equally daunting task against Bangladesh. Williams' 3 for 35 was crucial as spin again dominated, and Zimbabwe knocked over England for 172 and then chased down the score for the loss of eight wickets with 2.5 overs in hand.

"I feel relieved after what I said beforehand," Williams said. "I am also very proud of my players because we stuck to our plans, worked hard and got our rewards." That plan involved spin, spin and more spin as Williams used four slow bowlers, including himself, to get through 34.5 overs between them. And in the face of that trial by spin England were found wanting.

They did reach 157 for 4 at one point but the pressure exerted by the spinners and the need to press on in the later stages of the innings prompted a collapse as their last six wickets tumbled for just 15 runs.

The Zimbabwe spin quartet was led by Williams, who dismissed Rob Woodman (6), Rory Hamilton-Brown (47) and last man Andy Miller (4), but the other spinners - all of them legbreak bowlers - also played their parts. Ryan Higgins (2 for 33) picked up the important top-order wickets of Varun Chopra (31) and Ali (19) while Gary Balance (who bowled the last over in the win against Nepal) took 3 for 21. Balance mopped up the tail while Graeme Cremer, although wicketless, did an effective job of containment, conceding just 28 runs in his ten-over spell. Chopra and Hamilton-Brown were the only England batsmen to pass 30, although Ben Wright chipped in with a useful 27.

"The pitch was one where the slower you bowled it the harder it was to hit so I told Gary (Balance) to slow things down," said Williams. "It was important for us to top the group but now we have a tough game against Pakistan. They will be out to prove a point but maybe they will be complacent and we hope to use that against them."

Balance followed up his bowling exploits with a timely contribution with the bat. While wickets were tumbling around him he dug in to make a crucial 47 batting at No. 3 and pulled his side around from a precarious 29 for 3. Despite Balance's Man-of-the-Match effort England were still favourites when they took Zimbabwe's seventh wicket with 65 required but Cremer (29) and `Chamu' Chibhabha, with a nerveless unbeaten 29, saw their side through that sticky period.

England's spinners were also excellent, with Graeme White (0 for 24), Nick James (2 for 25) and Ali (2 for 29) all impressing and pace bowler Andy Miller (2 for 28) also looking good early on. But in the end they did not have enough runs to play with. "The batting let us down again today," said Ali afterwards. "Their spinners bowled really well but we did not play them all that well. The positive is that it is good to get a game like that out of our system."

England's next opponents Bangladesh gave them a torrid time on a tour there in November and December and England returned home from that trip without winning a match. "All we can do is to go out there and give it everything and maybe Bangladesh might underestimate us. In some ways it was good to play like we did today because we can learn from that when we play tomorrow," added Ali.

England were without opener Mark Stoneman and seam bowler Huw Waters, both of them suffering from stomach upsets.