A superb unbeaten 96 from Grant Flower enabled the tourists - beaten by 10 wickets by Ireland a fortnight ago - to gain their first one-day win over England since July 2000.

England made 191 for 8 in their 50 overs, with Andy Flintoff top-scoring with 53. Zimbabwe replied with 195 for 6, from 48 overs.

It had looked all so easy for England when Zimbabwe nose-dived to 15 for four at the hands of Richard Johnson and Darren Gough.

Gough and Johnson were eventually taken out of the attack with figures of 7-2-16-2 and 7-1-22-2 respectively and replaced by Flintoff and Clarke.

Batting became less hazardous as Flower and Stuart Matsikenyeri launched the Zimbabwe recovery with a stand of 96 in 22 overs.

Matsikenyeri was aided by two dropped chances on 31 and 43 by Marcus Trescothick and Andy Flintoff respectively. But on 44 he took one chance too many and the recalled Johnson claimed his third wicket as Rikki Clarke held onto the chance at wide mid-off.

Heath Streak (7) was then run out by Michael Vaughan's direct hit from mid-on to leave the game back in the balance at 143 for six.

But Flower found an able ally in Sean Ervine to see his country home to a memorable victory with an unbroken stand of 52.

England's progress had also been far from serene. Marcus Trescothick briefly flourished with a flurry of boundaries off Andy Blignaut - who conceded 38 runs in his initial four-over spell.

But after that initial aggression only Andy Flintoff batted with any real authority in reaching his seventh limited overs half-century.

The scoring was reduced to a trickle while spinners Ray Price and Douglas Marillier were in harness from mid-innings onwards. Price conceded just 20 runs in his 10 overs and picked up the wicket of Robert Key (11).

Flintoff went onto reach his half-century off 84 balls with six fours. On 53 he failed to make contact with an attempted big hit off Marillier and presented Blignaut with an easy catch at midwicket. England were then 144 for six with still nearly 10 overs of their innings remaining.

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