England open their challenge for the ICC Trophy today determined complacency will not undermine their chances of success against a Zimbabwe line-up widely expected to struggle in the tournament.

Decimated by the sacking of 14 leading players, including former captain Heath Streak, following a long-standing dispute over selection policy last April, Zimbabwe's fortunes and capabilities have plummeted since with young captain Tatenda Taibu overseeing eight successive defeats.

But perhaps their biggest humiliation yet was a morale-sapping friendly four-wicket defeat by the part-time cricketers of the USA earlier this week, a match intended as preparation for their big showdown with hosts England at Edgbaston today.

Their recent troubles have prompted predictions of a rout by England's confident squad, but the hosts are refusing to take their victory for granted - regardless of the inferior standard of the opposition.

''We're preparing and planning in the same fashion as we would if we were playing any side in the world,'' stressed England captain Michael Vaughan yesterday.

''We've got footage of them playing Australia and we'll watch that and come up with plans like we do for every player in the world.

''Preparation has been good and we'll be going into tomorrow's game like we do every other game, expecting to win - we realise that these kind of games are a bit of a banana skin but if we can re-live some of the performances we gave against India then I'm sure we'll be fine.

''We need to get off to a good start. We respect them as much as any team in the world because that's the way we plan and prepare and we'll go into tomorrow's game looking for a similar performance to the one we've given in the last few weeks.''

Professional as that attitude may be, it would be a major shock if Zimbabwe even competed with England for long during today's opening match so scant are their playing resources now and Vaughan conceded he did have a level of sympathy for their predicament.

He said: ''It's not a nice situation that players like Heath Streak are missing out on a big tournament but as players we just concentrate on our team.

''It's not right for me as England captain to comment on Zimbabwe's selectors, but I do think it's disappointing the likes of Streak and the Flower brothers are missing out on a huge opportunity to show their talents to the world stage.''

Teams: England (from): MP Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt), ME Trescothick (Somerset), VS Solanki (Worcestershire), AJ Strauss (Middlesex), A Flintoff (Lancashire), PD Collingwood (Durham), GO Jones (Kent, wkt), AF Giles (Warwickshire), AJ Wharf (Glamorgan), D Gough (Yorkshire), SJ Harmison (Durham), A McGrath (Yorkshire), JM Anderson (Lancashire), GJ Batty (Worcestershire).

Zimbabwe (from): BRM Taylor, S Matsikenyeri, MA Vermeulen, T Taibu (capt & wkt), DD Ebrahim, V Sibanda, ML Nkala, E Chigumbura, EC Rainsford, T Panyangara, DT Hondo, A Maregwede, P Utseya, T Mupariwa.