Chris Schofield had a magic return to international cricket this afternoon, as his all round performance ensured victory for England against Zimbabwe at Newlands, Cape Town.

Schofield was included in the squad ahead of fellow spinner Jeremy Snape and justified his inclusion with both bat and ball as England romped to victory against the same Zimbabwean side that beat Australia yesterday evening.

England captain Paul Collingwood won the toss and elected to bat first. They stuttered at the top of the innings as two wickets in two balls left them 20 for two but an electric partnership between Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collinwood took England up past 150.

Pietersen’s innings from 79 came off just 37 deliveries and gave the England innings a well needed injection of energy. As is typical in cricket, however, his wickets was closely followed by Collingwood’s, who was run out leaving the score 154 for five.

Desperately searching for quick runs, England lost regular wickets, but Schofield made sure his side used the allotted 20 overs, scoring nine not out from just seven deliveries with England finishing 188 for nine.

Zimbabwe got off to a great start, striking regular boundaries off England’s opening attack of Stuart Broad and James Anderson. Going past 50 without loss, yesterday’s star Brendan Taylor looked as though he was going to repeat his heroics.

However Collingwood turned to Dimitri Mascarehas and Schofield. Both players bowled beautifully to stifle the Zimbabwean batsmen with Surrey’s leg spinner not conceding a boundary in his four over spell.

In a performance similar to his consistency in the domestic competition earlier in the season, Schofield mixed up his pace to strike twice in his final over. Conceding only 15 runs the Surrey man with Mascarehas, who picked up three wickets, put England into a match winning position.

Collingwood brought himself into the attack and Broad returned and each picked up a wicket as Zimbabwe eventually fell 50 runs short of the England total.

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