Foster is struggling behind the stumps

Matthew Hoggard bowled well again, and I must pay tribute to James Kirtley who seemed to put the worries about his bowling action in the background.

He should have taken a wicket in his first over but Guy Whittall was dropped by James Foster.

The young Essex wicket-keeper has not had the best of tours so far, and he is lucky that he is the only one in the squad because there would be pressure for him to move aside.

The chance he put down off Kirtley was wide to his right but having made the decision to dive in front of Andrew Flintoff, he really should have caught it.

Poor Kirtley - it would have been just the start he needed.

If Zimbabwe were to compete they needed early wickets but Marcus Trescothick was in no mood to be generous.

He raced to 46 off only 35 balls and, when he was caught at point, England already had 72 on the board in only the 12th over. The game was virtually over.

Hussain refused to walk

Hussain was dropped on 21 and got away with a blatant catch behind the wicket from another ill-advised reverse sweep.

I do wonder, sometimes, how Hussain manages to stand so innocently when he has so clearly hit the ball.

He got away with this one and it was noticeable that none of the Zimbabweans applauded his half century.

Umpire Kevin Barbour got his revenge by despatching Hussain for an unlikely lbw just before the end, but Mark Ramprakash hit the winning runs and Knight finished with a positive 82 as England swept to victory with more than 12 overs to spare.