BBC SPORT | Cricket | Grounds for optimism

BBC Cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew reflects on England's fourth victory in Zimbabwe.

These matches have had precious little excitement for the spectators.

We are still awaiting anything approaching a close finish, and while England's steady rehabilitation continues, Zimbabwe are simply going from bad to worse.

This is a team that has always more than made up in the field for what it lacked in depth of bowling and batting in the field, but the current squad has lost even that ability and self-belief.

They really are pretty poor at the moment.

So, with that in mind, we still have to be cautious about being too fulsome in our praise for England's up and coming youngsters except to say that a gradual improvement is there for all to see.

Paul Collingwood is going from strength to strength, particularly his batting.

Paul Collingwood hits a boundary
Collingwood may have earned a trip to India

In this fourth one-sided match, he built upon his match-winning contribution of 36 on Sunday and made an excellent 77 from only 90 balls.

He is certainly not a 'bits and pieces cricketer' - a rather unkind term for one-day specialists who have been chosen for England over the past five years.

While he would only be rated as a back-up, sixth bowler at the moment, he has inked himself into England's plans when the selectors sit down and choose their one-day squad to tour India - if that tour now goes ahead.

James Foster made a rather inauspicious start to this series, dropping a couple of catches behind the wicket, but his performance on Wednesday was extremely positive.

His stumping of Grant Flower was exceptional, the ball bounced off the batsman's boot and came awkwardly through to the young 'keeper, but he still managed to whip off the bails and remove a man who, with 96 to his name, was threatening to win the match for Zimbabwe.

James Foster dismisses Grant Flower
Foster completes a smart stumping

It was good to see Marcus Trescothick lead England for the first time.

He has been playing international cricket for barely 18 months, yet already looks to have established himself as Nasser Hussain's natural successor.

He was calm in the field and scored a fine half century. A good bloke, Trescothick, a real find.

So we look forward to the final match on Saturday.

Hopefully the Bulawayo faithful will have a game to remember rather than the definitely forgettable fare we have observed so far.

Chris Silverwood is the only player in England's squad not to have appeared in this series so far and if he has a run on Saturday and performs well, Duncan Fletcher will head for home a contented man.


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