Gavin Rennie's innings of 93 while not quite carrying him to his first Test century, did at least ensure that Zimbabwe could avoid the follow on against New Zealand at the Basin Reserve today.

But there was more satisfaction for Rennie who has been battling with a technical fault for the last two years.

The appointment of former Queensland and Australian bowler Carl Rackemann as coach of Zimbabwe allowed Rennie to have some attention to his fault and to play the most significant innings of his career to date.

He came into the Test, his 19th, with an average of only 21.11. It is now 23.11 but the innings was just a beginning for his future prospects, not only in Tests but one-dayers.

Rennie said at the end of the day's play that he had been in competition with Stuart Carlisle for the No 3 spot in the one-day side and that the innings would have been a big boost for his own chances.

It also spoke volumes for his adaptability.

For all intents and purposes since completing two Tests in India, Zimbabwe has been on a one-day tour with five ODIs in India, three in New Zealand and several more in Australia, depending on how far Zimbabwe can go in the three-Nations series with Australia and the West Indies.

"This test we see as a Test amongst a one-day tour," he said.

"It is quite a big change to put away the one-day game and come out for the Test game for just one Test."

The slow pitch did provide plenty of runs for a player who had seen what concentration could do for a batsman like Nathan Astle in New Zealand's innings.

Rennie batted 403 minutes and faced 323 balls, hitting 10 fours, before being the fifth batsman out 51 runs short of the follow on target. He and Andy Flower added 130 runs for the fourth wicket, a Zimbabwe record against New Zealand which surpassed the 88 scored by Flower and David Houghton in Auckland in 1995/96.

"It's a pretty easy wicket to bat on, it doesn't offer the seam bowlers anything. It offers spin and considerable bounce too. It is pretty good to bat on. There was slow spin with a pretty old ball but with a new ball it was good spin.

"It was very frustrating to get out when I did. I had set my goals and had a slight lapse in concentration. I was looking forward to that milestone [hundred]," he said.

"Paul Wiseman was probing. He was very accurate, he didn't give us a lot to put away, whereas Brooke Walker wasn't shy to use his variations and that gave us some scoring opportunities.

"The mood is very positive in the changing room. The guys are happy with the performance today and the two young guys, Trevor Madondo and Dougie Marillier batted very well at the end," he said.

© CricInfo