By Henry Olonga Former Zimbabwe cricketer

Zimbabwe played 17 matches in England and won only five. They were involved in eight international games and managed just one victory.

The statistics are pretty bleak.

They struggled from the start of their two-month tour, but it's not all doom and gloom.

In among the numerous negatives, there are some positives they can take into their next Test series, a daunting two-match visit to Australia.

Positives

The greatest benefit of the tour is that the youngsters in the squad have had exposure to international cricket - and its rigours.

They will now have an understanding of the gulf between first-class cricket and Test match cricket, it will be impressed on their minds and that's an important part of making the transition.

Streak took seven Test wickets and eight in the one-dayers

Furthermore the squad has developed a great team spirit, a camaraderie born from being in the trenches, which should bode well for the future.

At the head of that is the skipper Heath Streak, who, after all his recent injury problems, was bowling as well as I've seen him bowl.

Raymond Price was the only other consistent bowler in the squad. He made some good players look silly, was outstanding in the NatWest Series and should be a fixture in the team over the next few years.

The other individual who stood out was Tatenda Taibu. The vice-captain was bubbly behind the stumps and helped get the guys through some tough times.

And maybe his attitude has rubbed off on others in the team as out in the middle the fielding seemed a lot better than it has been in the past.

Negatives

Mike Atherton is on record as saying that he thinks Zimbabwe were the weakest team to tour England. He's probably right.

The fielding may have been good, but unfortunately the support bowling and the batting were not up to scratch.

Apart from Streak, the seamers where short of what they could have done in helpful conditions on English wickets.

As for the batting, they seemed incapable of making competitive totals, losing wickets at regular intervals.

The young batsmen in the team proved their ability to make runs with some good knocks of 30 or 40 and surviving for an hour will be a confidence booster.

But at this level occupation of the crease is paramount and an hour is not long enough. Foot movement is also crucial in England and there wasn't any.

ZIMBABWE'S TOUR First Test (Lord's) Lost by an innings & 92 runs Second Test (Riverside) Lost by an innings & 69 runs NatWest Series results All tour results

The batting wasn't helped by the older heads in the team who will have disappointed themselves, most notably Grant Flower.

His statistics in England are an eyesore, but be it a technical or a mental thing he will work hard at his game in an effort to get it right.

He'll probably be on the scene for another two or three years and he'll want to give something back and nurture the young players.

Flower's continued inability to adapt to English conditions is something that is symbolic of the greatest frustration of the tour, namely the team's failure to learn.

Be it foot movement or line and length, the squad did not learn as the tour progressed and carried on making the same mistakes as shown by the similarities between the two Test defeats.

English wickets demand patience and the players need to appreciate that if you occupy the crease you will make runs.

Perhaps they need a few more older heads in the squad, some players from my generation.

It seems ludicrous that there is no-one there between the ages of 25 and 30, but that is the choice that has been made.

The negatives outweigh the positives, but if they learn from this lesson the tour will have had a purpose in the development of a new generation of Zimbabwean cricketers.