Lehmann stars as Zimbabwe collapse

Australia 323 for 8 (Hayden 87, Lehmann 67) beat Zimbabwe 184 (Taylor 65, Lehmann 4-7) by 139 runs, and lead three-match series 2-0
Scorecard

It was never expected that any of the matches between Australia and the team supposedly representing Zimbabwe would be competitive: the only questions were how much the Aussies would win by, and whether the Zimbabweans could avoid total humiliation in this second match at Harare. The answer to the first question was 139 runs, and to the second, yes ... until the last 35 minutes, anyway.

Tatenda Taibu put Australia in after winning the toss, and the main feature of their total of 323 for 8 was a third-wicket partnership of 137 between the two left-handers, Matthew Hayden and Darren Lehmann. Adam Gilchrist - another left-hander - made 20 of the opening stand of 26 after surviving an uncomfortable first over from Douglas Hondo, during which he edged a boundary that would have been a regulation catch to a third slip. He was caught off a no-ball on 18, but then skyed a catch off Hondo.

Michael Clarke, promoted to No. 3, played some attractive drives before he played over a full-length delivery from Tinashe Panyangara and lost his leg stump. Australia were 43 for 2 in the eighth over and, incredibly, Hayden had only 2 off 14 balls.

He was now joined by Lehmann. For a while both concentrated on the ones and twos, but as their partnership developed the boundaries began to flow, although both found timing difficult at times. Hayden quickly followed Lehmann to his fifty, taking 72 balls against 57. They went into the sixties neck and neck, but then Lehmann tried an extravagant drive against Stuart Matsikenyeri and was bowled for 67 (180 for 3).

Hayden weighed in with some powerful leg-side strokes, but he tried it once too often against Tawanda Mupariwa, holing out on the boundary for 87. In tighter circumstances it would be termed a soft dismissal, but again it was clear the Australians were not treating these matches seriously, as was the holding-back of Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn in the batting order. Martyn only entered at the fall of the fifth wicket, and Ponting at the sixth.

The later batsmen batted with an abandon that would hardly be tolerated against stronger opposition, and wickets continued to fall, including one to the specialist batsman Brendan Taylor, bowling his gentle offbreaks. The one batsman to cash in was Jason Gillespie, whose unbeaten 33 was his best in one-day internationals.

As usual Stuart Matsikenyeri tried to give Zimbabwe a brisk start, scoring 27 of the opening stand of 48 before being caught at first slip off Glenn McGrath in the 15th over. A scoring rate of just above three an over was useless for a victory attempt, but good enough as a face-saving exercise.

Predictably Taylor got little chance in this innings to show the favourite front-foot drives that he had displayed on Tuesday, but he battled on, working the runs when he could. Vusi Sibanda had a torrid time early on, but settled in to play some handsome strokes. However, as so often, he got out when set, driving Michael Kasprowicz straight to extra cover after making 23.

Mark Vermeulen, specialising in the lofted drive, scored 25 off as many balls, while Taylor nudged and dabbed his way along, adjusting his game with great maturity and skill. Finally he got a rare delivery pitched up to him, from Gillespie, and drove it sweetly to the boundary just to the on side of straight to reach his third successive one-day fifty. It took him 82 balls.

Zimbabwe were 163 for 2 in the 36th over, but then Taylor swung a catch to long leg to depart for an admirable 65. Geoff Boycott frequently urges batsmen to add two wickets to the total to get a realistic assessment of their team's position, but when Zimbabwe are batting you need to add rather more wickets than that. Just 21 runs later, the entire team was dismissed as, like lemmings, their batsmen plunged over the cliff, while Hondo was unable to bat after suffering a bad blow in the face while bowling his final over.

Only Alester Maregwede kept his head, scoring 18 of those final 21 runs in good style, ignoring the suicides at the other end. Lehmann enjoyed his gift of four wickets for seven runs, which when added to his earlier half-century earned him the Man of the Match award. All in all it was a pathetic end to what had otherwise been a doughty struggle by a greatly outclassed team - but it only went to stress that this match does not warrant official international status.