WORCESTER (England) May 9: A fine knock of 74 by England hopeful Vikram Solanki saved Worcestershire from a low total against Zimbabwe on Friday.

Solanki was involved in a useful third wicket stand worth 129 with B. Smith who scored a fluent 54.

Medium pacer Douglas Hondo hastened Worcestershire’s innings when he picked up three wickets in five balls to finish with the figures of three for 53 from 13 overs.

Scoreboard

Worcestershire first innings

S.Peters b Blignaut 18

A.Singh c Flower b Blignaut 14

V.Solanki st Taibu b Price 74

B.Smith c Taibu b Hondo 53

Kadeer Ali c Taibu b Hondo 10

A.Hall c Taibu b Flower 34

G.Batty b Hondo 0

D.Pipe c & b Flower 15

Kabir Ali run out 0

M.Mason not out 4

M.Harrity c Taibu b Price 16

Extras (b-6 lb-11 w-1 nb-6) 24

Total (all out, 60.5 overs) 262

Fall of wickets: 1-40 2-41 3-170 4-187 5-188 6-188 7-237 8-241 9-241

Bowling: Blignaut 13-2-46-2, Streak 2-0-11-0, Hondo 13-4-53-3, Friend 6-0-54-0, Price 19.5-3-64-2, Flower 7-2-17-2

Zimbabwe first innings

D.Ebrahim run out 0

M.Vermuelen c Solanki b Kabir Ali 11

S.Carlisle not out 29

G.Flower c Peters b Mason 18

B.Rogers not out 1

Extras (b-1 lb-6 nb-3) 10

Total (for three wickets, 30 overs) 69

Fall of wickets: 1-0 2-12 3-58

To bat: T.Taibu, A.Blignaut, H.Streak, T.Friend, D.Hondo, R.Price

Bowling (to date): Kabir Ali 6-3-11-1, Harrity 7-2-16-0, Mason 7-2-16-1, Hall 7-2-19-0, Batty 3-3-0-0—Reuters