Now that we have had time to digest the horrors of the test match the Zimbabwean national cricket team should focus on what lies ahead.

But what did happened? We all knew it wouldn't be easy but none of us expected to be thrashed by an innings and 301 runs in side three days.

Brendan Taylor got it spot on when he won the toss and elected to bowl on a wicket that had just enough to keep the seamers interested
throughout the first day of play.

Both Kyle Jarvis and Brian Vitori had their moments in the first session when Jarvis had Brendon Mccullum playing at away swinging deliveries out side the off stump and Vitori took most of the batsmen by surprise with well directed bouncers.

But sadly from Zimbabwe's point of view this happened few and far between as the New Zealand openers took full advantage of some wayward bowling and average fielding from the Zimbabweans.

Another surprising and somewhat disappointing observation was the lack of pace by the three seamers.

Jarvis, vitori and Shingi Masakadza are all capable of nudging the 140/h mark from time to time and would normally consistently bowl between 130 to 135/h. How ever, the quickest ball recorded through out the New Zealand innings was 136km per hour by Brian Vitori who looked far from the threatening bowler who had the Bangladesh batsmen weaving and defending back in August.

The lack of pace also led to several catches falling short of the fielders at slip and one can't help but feel that if the bowlers were about 10 km per hour quicker, the slip fielders would have been in business.

When Zimbabwe came out to bat, most people would have felt that avoiding the follow on target of 296 would have been more than realistic given the fact that Zimbabwe had scored 328 runs in the warm up match on a lively wicket against a number of test players. But what became very apparent was that none of the top order were able to spot Chris Martin's in swinging deliverie or his deliverie that held it's line. Hence the dismissals of Tino Mawoyo and Forster Mutiswa.

Another telling factor was the catching by New Zealand. Any shot that was played in the air and that went to a fielder was pounced on by New Zealand who maintained relentless pressure with the ball and in the field.

The one man who needs special mention is Regis Chakabva. He rewarded the selectors in the warming match with a highly impressive knock of 87
not out and showed a wonderful mixture of defence and attack as he started off slowly and then upped the tempo as he struck 12 fours and two sixes.

So when he came to the wicket with Zimbabwe in absolute tatters at 12/5, not to many people would have given him much of a chance to stick
around, let alone score runs.

But that is exactly what he did. And even though his 68 came no where close to saving the match, his cool temperment, outward calmness and maturity has unquestionably shown that even though Chakabva may be short in stature, he has the ability to stand tall amongst the wreckage of a top and mid order collapse.

When a team plays as badly as Zimbabwe did in the one off test, it is natural to want to lash out in frustration at every body involved but there are a few very important statistics to remember before venting ones frustration.

It is important to remember that the Zimbabwe playing 11 had only played74 test matches including those played before Zimbabwe left the test arena while the entire squad had played 110 test matches with Tatenda Taibu having played 27.

The New Zealand squad on the other hand had played 318 tests with Daniel Vettori's contribution being 107 tests. Just 3 test matches less than the entire Zimbabwean squad.

However, the players themselves will be the first to admit that their performance was well below the standards and expectations they would have set themselves and if the one day series starting on Friday were to have similar results as the test match, even the biggest fan would be hard pressed to find an acceptable excuse in a form of Cricket they are well experienced with.

So after a few days of rest and soul searching, it would be fare to say that the test match is done and dusted and that all the focus should be on restoring some pride as they take on New Zealand in the shorter version of the game.

Dean du Plessis.