LONDON, 4 June 2003 — Nasser Hussain will be seeking a new cast of match-winners in the second Test against Zimbabwe this week, with strike bowler Steve Harmison topping his wish list.

England’s innings win at Lord’s may have been the right result but the England captain will hope for more style this time as Durham makes its debut as a Test venue tomorrow.

Two batsmen who bowl a bit of part-time military medium - Mark Butcher (who also top-scored with 137 runs) and Anthony McGrath — shared seven second-innings wickets to wrap up the first match.

Their performance would have taught Hussain nothing he did not already know, namely that England is full of players capable of swinging the ball in helpful conditions while the current Zimbabwe side is one of the weakest to visit in decades.

There is still plenty to learn about the 6ft 4ins Harmison, however, who will be on his home ground at Chester-le-Street.

Hussain has often complained that England are failing to produce really special bowlers — wrist-spinners or out-and-out quicks — but the towering Harmison is one of the exceptions, generating pace and disconcerting bounce. The 24-year-old will never be a line-and-length bowler — he bowled eight wides in an over during the Ashes tour - but he will always worry batsmen. Harmison, however, has yet to turn vicious deliveries into wickets and his three victims at Lord’s were overshadowed by the performance of another young pretender as James Anderson took five in the first innings of his debut.

Hussain would like nothing better this time than a man-of-the-match medal for the quietly spoken Harmison who, as a young man, got homesick whenever straying far from home outside his county boundaries.

There will also be pressure on batsman Robert Key to perform at Durham. In 12 test innings, he has reached 50 just once and averages 20. Unlucky to be given out at Lord’s, he will be doubly keen to take advantage of one of the weakest bowling attacks in Test cricket to establish himself in the team.

Zimbabwe skipper Heath Streak was the only opposition bowler to look consistently threatening in the first Test and he may be forced to go it alone again in Durham, England’s first new Test venue for 101 years.

The under-powered Zimbabweans have only won one of their five matches on tour, that against British Universities.

Streak conceded after Lord’s that his side had bowled, batted and fielded badly.

Asked if he could draw any positives from the first Test, he was reduced to discussing bowler Travis Friend’s batting at number nine. Such tit-bits do not bode well for a Zimbabwe revival.

India Still Unsure About Bilateral

Games With Pakistan

In Calcutta, the Indian cricket board is making no promises over resumption of bilateral cricket with Pakistan despite a recent thaw in political relations.

“It appeared (bilateral) cricket would be played in the near future,” board president Jagmohan Dalmiya said on Monday. “But now what the near future means, I don’t know. “How many months or weeks it will take, my guess is as good as yours,” he told reporters.

The Indian government banned bilateral matches with Pakistan three years ago, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had been hopeful last month following an upswing in diplomatic relations. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said it was ready to host India, who have twice canceled Test tours to Pakistan after being denied permission by the government.