The opening game in any tournament should, in a perfect world, be an edge of the seat thriller which captures the public interest, and sets up the competition for the games to come. Unfortunately, England against Zimbabwe isn't it.

That is simply not going to happen when a group of mainly schoolboy cricketers representing Zimbabwe meet England at Edgbaston in the first match in Pool D in front of an expected crowd of little more than 5,000.

To be fair the organisers had no choice but to make Zimbabwe the sacrificial lambs of the first day. The alternative, a risky opening match between Sri Lanka and England, would have killed off domestic public interest straightaway if the home side had lost.

Michael Vaughan made all the right noises at his press conference before the match about preparing for Zimbabwe in exactly the same way as they would for Australia, and about potential 'banana skins'.

But he knows that Zimbabwe would struggle on current form to beat a county second XI and they have precisely zero chance against an England outfit in the process of weeding out its weakest links and spurred on by the amazing form of the ICC's one-day player of the year, Andrew Flintoff.

It had not looked like being such a mismatch when the draw for the tournament was made at the end of 2003, at which time Zimbabwe looked the most likely of the tournament's four minnows to cause an upset.

But in May this year, what was already a limited squad of players from a small cricketing pool was torn apart by the sacking of 15 players, all of them white.

They included top-class pace bowler and captain Heath Streak, who was removed from the side for accusing the Zimbabwe Cricket Union of racism in selecting black cricketers ahead of more talented white ones.

A further 14 players protested against his removal by refusing to take the field in a one-day game against Sri Lanka and were promptly sacked as well.

They included all the side's best players. As well as Streak, Zimbabwe lost the valuable skills of Grant Flower, Ray Price and Sean Irvine.

Since then Zimbabwe have been forced to field a team of novices and have not won a match, even managing to lose this week's warm-up game against the USA, a team for which the phrase 'making up the numbers' might well have been coined.

They have been suspended from playing Test cricket and an ICC panel of judges is investigating the alleged racism within the ZCU.

As a result Zimbabwe's depleted squad contains six cricketers under the age of 20 and only one batsman, Dion Ebrahim, who has made a century and is their likeliest source of runs.

They are also heavily reliant on their captain, Tatenda Taibu, a capable wicket-keeper-batsman who has even been known to throw off the gloves and bowl, such is the lack of resources at his disposal.

He is suffering from a hamstring injury and faces a late fitness test before the game. In the event of his absence Ebrahim will take on the captaincy but Taibu is almost sure to play.

Zimbabwe's bowling is even weaker than the batting, being almost totally dependent on their one proven performer, Doug Hondo, though coach Phil Simmons has been talking up the 18-year-old paceman Tinashe Panyangara.

Simmons thinks that Panyangara is one of several talented youngsters who have the right attitude to succeed with more experience under their belt. He described the spirit in the side as 'tremendous' even after they had lost all their recent games against India 'A' and South Africa 'A'.

Taibu, a charming and personable young man, agrees that his team cannot be faulted for commitment, and is learning to be patient in the knowledge that, with such an inexperienced squad, things will not always go to plan. And so far in 2004, his team hasn't disappointed.

At 21, it is a lot to ask Taibu to comment on the knotty political situation engulfing the side, and he sensibly refuses to do so, saying he loves playing cricket and simply wants to see his side improve.

With almost no chance of the rebels returning to the fold, that is likely to take some time and the process is unlikely to begin against this talented England side.

England (from): MP Vaughan (capt), ME Trescothick, VS Solanki, AJ Strauss, A Flintoff, PD Collingwood, GO Jones, AF Giles, AG Wharf, D Gough, SJ Harmison, A McGrath.

Zimbabwe (from): T Taibu (capt), E Chigumbura, DD Ebrahim, DT Hondo, NB Mahwire, A Maregwede, S Matsikenyeri, T Mupariwa, ML Nkala, T Panyangara, V Sibanda, BRM Taylor, P Utseya, MA Vermuelen.

9 Sep, 2004