England v Zimbabwe 2000

At Lord's, July 22. England beat Zimbabwe by six wickets. Toss: England.

Caddick, Gough and Mullally exploited the cloudy conditions to make early dents in the Zimbabwe innings: after 15 overs they were 31 for four. Although a stand of 89 from the Flower brothers kept Zimbabwean hopes alive, outstanding fielding, combined with Gough's intelligently varied attack, restricted them to an unprepossessing 169. Yet had Stewart not been enjoying the purplest of patches, there might have been a tense conclusion, for England stuttered in the opening overs. Trescothick experienced his first failure in his seventh international innings and, with Flintoff departing four balls later, there was palpable optimism in Zimbabwe's camp. However, Stewart and Hick put on 134 in 34 overs, both producing some dreamy shots in the summer sun, and Stewart was three short of becoming the first Englishman to hit three successive one-day international hundreds when he flashed impulsively at Streak. He faced 123 balls and hit 14 fours. By then, though, the job was all but done, and soon afterwards England had won their first one-day trophy for two and a half years.

Man of the Match: A. J. Stewart. Attendance: 25,038; receipts £750,814. Man of the Series: A. J. Stewart.