Chasing 176 on the final day at New Road, Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak appeared to have guided his side to victory by defying a back strain to bat with a runner and score 37 to bring the scores level.

But looking for the single which would have won the game, Streak edged Kabir to slip and the Worcestershire seamer bowled last man Doug Hondo two balls later to deny the tourists what seemed a certain triumph.

Streak had insisted he would only bat in an emergency after straining his back having bowled only two overs on the opening day, but with vice-captain Tatenda Taibu acting as a runner, Streak dominated a 47-run ninth-wicket stand with Ray Price.

Zimbabwe slipped into trouble at 55 for five after losing Mark Vermeulen and Dion Ebrahim inside the first four overs before Kabir claimed two wickets in successive balls as the tourists lost four wickets inside the first 11 overs.

Mark Harrity claimed the early breakthrough for Worcestershire and underlined Streak's view that the pitch was helpful to seamers by removing Vermeulen when he pushed forward and edged behind.

Ebrahim (15) followed three overs later and became the first of three victims for Kabir in four overs when he misjudged the bounce of a full-length delivery and edged to Vikram Solanki at second slip.

Their dismissals brought Grant Flower and Stuart Carlisle to the crease. Carlisle punished Harrity for a wayward line by firstly clipping through mid-wicket for four and then pushing him through the covers for another boundary to move quickly to 23.

He became the second victim of the uneven bounce, however, when he was also outwitted by a full-length delivery which lifted and induced him into edging behind and was followed next ball by a straight Kabir delivery which cleaned up Barney Rogers' stumps.

But it was the play which immediately followed the lunch interval which appeared to have decided the outcome with Gareth Batty striking just six overs after the interval to take care of Andy Blignaut. who had hit three boundaries in the first two overs.

Blignaut had progressed to 42 when he attempted a slog sweep to Batty's third ball after entering the attack and got a leading edge to Worcestershire captain Ben Smith at short extra cover.

He followed that success with two wickets in three balls six overs later, firstly ending the stubborn resistance of Flower, who had battled for 34 overs to score 26 before holing out to Vikram Solanki in the deep and two balls later Travis Friend was yorked by a Batty quicker ball.

That left Zimbabwe struggling on 128 for eight, still 48 runs adrift of victory, when Streak walked out to bat and despite a determined display, he fell just short of completing a deserved victory.