By Matthew Allen BBC Sport

Feature: Stuart Matsikenyeri

Five months ago Zimbabwe cricket appeared dead and buried as they succumbed to a humiliating 2-0 Test series defeat in England.

In both Tests, days four and five were redundant as the home team ran out embarrassingly easy victors.

And many commentators predicted the swift demise of Zimbabwe in the Test arena without the likes of stalwarts Andy and Grant Flower, Henry Olonga and Alistair Campbell.

But the team demonstrated, by coming within a whisker of beating the West Indies in Harare, that cricket is very much alive and kicking in Zimbabwe.

Containing a host of fresh faces, the experimental side took apart Brian Lara's team and were just one tantalising wicket away from recording a momentous victory.

Significantly it was the first home Test in 15 years without at least one of the Flower brothers, who have scored more than 8,000 Test runs between them.

Of the specialist batsmen in the side, only Stuart Carlisle, with 1,352 at an average of 26.50 had even managed to reach the 1,000 mark.

Match report: Zimbabwe just fail to claim victory

The resurgence in form surprised many, but not former captain and Academy director, Dave Houghton.

"When we lost in England no-one was giving us credit for moving forwards," he told the BBC website.

"Everyone was saying that Zimbabwe cricket is dead now, which was a load of junk.

"When you are developing a side you don't want to make changes en bloc with four of five players changing at a time, but that was forced on us after the World Cup.

"What that means is that instead of a gradual process of rebuilding, it will be one that has its dark days, but I think these new young players will do the job given the experience."

Give this side two or three years to gel together and we'll see what happens Dave Houghton

The foundation of Zimbabwe's success against the Windies was laid in the national Academy, according to Houghton.

Two batsmen, Vuisimizi Sibanda and Stuart Matsikenyeri, made their debuts, with Matsikenyeri, in particular, having a whale of a time. He hit 103 runs and was only dismissed once in the match.

Youngsters Tatenda Taibu and Blessing Mahwire were also part of the inexperienced side that dominated the drawn match.

Taibu, 20, was only playing his 11th Test match but demonstrated maturity beyond his years by scoring a critical 83 when Zimbabwe's first innings was creaking.

"There are four or five really good young players who are comfortable in the Test environment given a year or two experience in the Academy," said Houghton.

"This is our new look side for the future and we've still got plenty of young players in hand.

"Give this side two or three years to gel together and we'll see what happens when we come out the other side.

"The message that needs to get across is that cricket is in a healthy state here."