Thanks to rain, which wiped out all but 11 balls from the pre-lunch session,the match was doomed to be a draw

John Ward23-Jun-2000Thanks to rain, which wiped out all but 11 balls from the pre-lunch session,the match was doomed to be a draw. Zimbabwe duly batted out the final day,which saw at least some positive batting from Craig Wishart, who scored acentury, and Dirk Viljoen and Heath Streak, who recorded unbeaten seventies.They finished on 441 for six, with Viljoen finishing on 72 and Streak on 71.The Zimbabweans went in to bat with the aim of making quick runs, withovernight batsmen Stuart Carlisle and Craig Wishart both overdue for majorinnings. The overnight score was 196 for two (Carlisle 60, Wishart 58).Wishart got going in the first over, pulling Franklin over midwicket forfour. But a mere six runs off 11 balls were scored before the rain startedcoming down for the first break of the day. With drizzle continuing on andoff, no further play was possible before lunch.On their past record, the Zimbabweans would surely have done their betsto press for victory, but when play restarted at 1.30 a result was virtuallyimpossible on a good pitch. The break did for Carlisle; with only threeruns added, he slashed at Charles Pimlott and was caught at first slip byJames Pyemont for 65.For a while Zimbabwe did nothing to show the enterprise evident duringtheir 11-ball pre-lunch session, perhaps because the conditions were damper,perhaps because all hope of any kind of result had now gone and perhapsbecause the University bowlers were now spraying the ball so far afield thatnot many of them could be reached. Wishart hit a few good strokes, mainlythrough midwicket, including two in successive balls off off-spinner GavinFranklin, who conceded 39 runs off his five overs, and 78 off 10 in thewhole innings. This enabled Wishart to race to his fourth career century,after which he drove powerfully on the off side, until at 116 he tried topull a ball from Mark Tournier which kept very low, and he was trapped lbw.He hit 4 sixes and 12 fours, and the total was 283 for four.Andy Flower continued his run of poor form, broken only by a centuryagainst a team purporting to represent Gloucestershire last weekend. Hefaced 14 balls and failed to get off the mark, before mistiming anill-judged hook against Tournier and skying a catch to Pimlott at long leg;the score 289 for five.Alistair Campbell had never looked really comfortable, and four runslater, on 26, he drove loosely at Tournier and was bowled. Heath Streakplayed a couple of ‘streaky’ hooks against Tournier, twice lobbing the ballhigh in the deep square leg region but just out of reach of the fielders,and was also dropped off a high chance in the slips off Mark Hardinges. Heand Dirk Viljoen batted well together until tea, when the score was 328 forsix off 100 overs (Viljoen 22, Streak 11).With neither team able to do more than have a practice out in themiddle and possibly improve their averages, Viljoen played some handsomedrives through the covers and point that did his average no harm at all, butsurvived two confident appeals at the wicket that impressed the fielders butnot umpire Lloyds. He ran to a quick fifty off 80 balls.Soon afterwards Streak, generally less noticeable but in fact thefaster scorer, off-drove Dawson for four to bring up his own 50, off 75balls, and the team’s 400. Soon afterwards he swung Dawson for a massivesix over midwicket into the tennis courts. The hardy spectators, perhaps asmany as 50, were getting entertainment, if not purpose, Streak hitting threefours in the final over before Zimbabwe acceded to the common demand anddeclared so the match could finish at 5.20.