CHESTER-LE-STREET, England, 8 June 2003 — Young England fast bowlers James Anderson and Steve Harmison took four wickets each yesterday as hapless Zimbabwe were again crushed by an innings to lose the two-Test series 2-0.
Anderson, who took five wickets on his debut in the first Test, and local boy Harmison had to rely more on sweat than inspiration as Zimbabwe lost by an innings and 69 runs.
As at Lord’s last month, the touring side failed to take the game into a fourth day.
Saddled with a 322-run first-innings deficit after being skittled for 94, Zimbabwe resumed on 41 for one and hung about until deep into the final session before being dismissed for 253. It was their ninth defeat in a row, the second-worst losing run in Test history. England, meanwhile, last won two successive games by an innings 18 years ago.
Anderson and Harmison, widely contrasting players in stature and approach, shared identical figures of four for 55 and six wickets in the match. Debutant seamer Richard Johnson, who claimed six victims in the first innings, failed to add to that tally yesterday.
The 20-year-old Anderson, still playing club cricket at the start of last season, has made his name for his ability to swing the ball late and at a skiddy pace. Harmison, who plays for Durham at Chester-le-Street, relies more on throat-balls.
Anderson, leading a pace attack boasting just seven caps and 22 wickets before the second Test, responded by rolling up his sleeves and wheeling remorselessly away at a line around off stump for 23 overs.
Johnson had done just that on Friday and Anderson, showing a maturity beyond his years and experience, followed that example. He struck early, having Stuart Carlisle (28) caught at short leg by the diving Robert Key off bat and pad after a 60-run stand with Dion Ebrahim. Harmison then accounted for Ebrahim, who made 55 before he was trapped lbw on his crease to leave Zimbabwe lunching on 113 for three.
They needed a major innings from Grant Flower, their leading batsman, or Tatenda Taibu, a wicketkeeper masquerading as a Test match number five. Neither obliged.
Facing Anderson, Flower played on four deliveries into the afternoon for 16 while Taibu made two less before pad-batting Ashley Giles’s left-arm spin to the crouching Mark Butcher at silly mid-off.
Zimbabwe’s lower order looked almost a match for the batsmen who had gone before as Sean Ervine and Travis Friend, who made 65 not out, hinted at a fourth day’s play.
They relied on straight and powerful strokes during a 70-ball half-century partnership for the sixth wicket, Ervine lofting Giles over long on and hitting the next ball in the same direction for four.
Ervine, however, on 34, played back to a trademark Harmison lifter and chopped the ball into his stumps to make it 185 for six.
Zimbabwe’s wretched series was summed up by captain Heath Streak’s dismissal just before tea. Friend drove a return catch to Harmison who dropped the chance but somehow helped the ball into the stumps at the non-striker’s end with Streak out of the crease. The final session was chiefly memorable for a Nasser Hussain catch and for the crowd’s delight at the end of a pitifully short and one-sided series.
Three-wicket Dillon
Contains Sri Lanka
In Bridgetown, Barbados, fast bowler Mervyn Dillon grabbed three wickets as the West Indies restricted Sri Lanka to 201 in the opening One-Day International at the Kensington Oval yesterday.
Sri Lankan opener Romesh Kaluwitharana slammed 54 for his 23rd half-century in one-dayers, but his effort was still not good enough for his team to set a challenging target. He hit four boundaries before being run out.
The West Indian bowlers, led by Dillon (3-39), never allowed Sri Lanka to build a big partnership as they kept striking at crucial stages. Kumar Dharmasena (40) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (27) put on 59 for the sixth wicket late in the innings.
Sri Lanka lost veterans Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu for 46 runs in the opening 10 overs as West Indies captain Brian Lara’s early moves produced the desired results.
Lara sent the opposition in to bat after winning the toss and Dillon exploited early freshness in the pitch to have Jayasuriya caught by wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs with the third ball of the match.
