Williams' Zimbabwe get the Balance right

England 172 (49.5 overs); Zimbabwe 175-8 (47.1 overs). Zimbabwe won by two wickets.

Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams said before the tournament he was targeting England as a must-win game and he was as good as his word on Friday, leading from the front as his side secured a narrow win that ensured they topped Group D.

Williams' 3-35 was crucial as the spin-inspired Africans knocked over Moeen Ali's line-up for 172 and then chased down the score for the loss of eight wickets with 2.5 overs in hand.

It means Zimbabwe will face Pakistan, the runners-up in Group A in the Super League quarter-final on Saturday while England will go up against the winners of that group, Bangladesh.

And Williams said afterwards: "I feel relieved after what I said beforehand.

"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 157-4 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 with the last six wickets tumbling 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 leg-break bowlers - also played their parts.

Ryan Higgins (2-33) 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 3-21.

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 number three and pulled his side around from a precarious 29-3.

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 excellent, with Graeme White (0-24), Nick James (2-25) and Ali (2-29) all impressing and pace bowler Andy Miller (2-28) also impressing 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.