Zimbabwe got a taste of the enormous pressure it will be under in the first cricket Test against Australia when Western Australia got within a whisker of pulling off a stunning win in the three-day tour match at the WACA.

Needing 270 runs at more than seven an over to win after Zimbabwe declared its second innings, the Warriors batted superbly to reach 4-266 at the close, just four runs short of what would have been an extraordinary win.

Zimbabwe was forced to put all nine fielders on the boundary in an attempt to slow down WA captain Mike Hussey (79 off 79 balls), Ryan Campbell (59 off 57) and Peter Worthington (45 off 27), who batted brilliantly on an even pitch.

A 128-run stand off 100 balls between Hussey and Campbell gave WA the chance to launch an assault at the target and in fading light the Warriors needed 15 runs off the final over to win.

That target became five off the last ball but Marcus North (31 not out) could only score one off Andy Blignaut's final delivery to leave the home side agonisingly short.

The run chase was similar to the pressure Zimbabwe's bowlers and fielders will be under from Australia's imposing batting line-up in Thursday's first Test.

"It's good to have a checkpoint going into the Test to make sure that our guard's up," Zimbabwe coach Geoff Marsh said.

"Hussey played very well and Campbell, they're two good players - they're on the verge of playing for Australia.

"They got away from us and from there on the pressure was on.

"For us it was good, but we would have been disappointed to lose the game, but it was good that we were under pressure from those guys."

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