Even coming from England, the tour party had never experienced rain like the torrents which has reduced England's cricket activity to only two full days in a fortnight.

England's game on Saturday was a more testing contest than the 73-run margin might indicate, because the first six in the Mashonaland order were all specialist batsmen for Zimbabwe, who had recently won a three-Test series in Pakistan. But England's success in protecting a score of 159 was a notable achievement, especially for the seamers Jason Lewry, Melvyn Betts and Steve Harmison.

Michael Vaughan's 43 off 59 balls would have been worth many more on English grounds, and his run-a-ball partnership of 65 with Darren Maddy was crucial. The remainder of the batting looked over-anxious.

England A now play a four-day match in Kwe Kwe, their sole first-class warm-up before the 'Test' against Zimbabwe A, starting Feb 2.