The game was heading for a fine climax, with England in a dominant position with Alec Stewart and Graham Thorpe at the crease. Our gameplan was to score 100 runs as quickly as possible to set Zimbabwe in the region of 220-230 in 60 overs.
The pitch was showing signs of wear and we feel our spinners, Robert Croft and Phil Tufnell, would have had a big part to play. The surrounds of the square had taken an absolute pounding on a daily basis, and once there was no chance of play in the morning session the game, regrettably, was dead in terms of a result.
My impressions of the two Tests overall are that we were unfortunate not to come away with a win, if not two, under our belts. The weather has played a major part, and a few hours' play were lost at Bulawayo in the historic first drawn Test match. One more ball would almost certainly have seen England home in that one, and in Harare time was lost every day, as you could set your watch by the thunderstorms in the afternoon.
The Stewart/Thorpe partnership put us in a strong position, and it was England dictating terms on the final day as to the timing of the declaration. I feel progress has been made with Croft and Tufnell bowling well together, and Darren Gough also looking menacing in the second innings.
Apart from Michael Atherton, all the batsmen have featured at some time on slow, sluggish pitches, and Stewart's hundred at Harare in the context of the game was a gem, so it was a mild surprise that the man of the match adjudicator, former Zimbabwe Test player and now ICC match referee Howey Gardener, gave the award to Grant Flower for his six-hour 73. Such is life.
There have been a couple of things, however, that have caused concern. One is our inability, at times, to make the batsman play enough, particularly at the start of an innings, which, of course, sets the tone. Secondly, we must rid ourselves of what I call poor session syndrome, or as was the case in Harare, a rank bad day.
In Test cricket you simply cannot underperform for long periods. The most pleasing thing, though, about the Harare game was the way we fought back to get into a strong position. One other thing we need to do is to get Atherton firing again. He had a couple of setbacks at the start of the tour with an injury and illness, and maybe is still a little behind the rest. I have every confidence that he will get back to his best.
Footwork is the key for him, and there is an old coaches' saying that in relation to a batsman's feet, you must bat in a bath, not a chamberpot. Athers is in the chamberpot at the moment.
It is difficult so far away from home to gauge what sort of reaction our tour is getting in Britain. Inevitably, one or two articles are faxed over to us, usually the less favourable ones. I seem to have upset some people by saying ``we murdered Zimbabwe at Bulawayo''.
I am not in the business of offending people, and if it was seen in that light I apologise for my choice of words. I do countless interviews on a daily basis, and it appears that I have slipped up on this one. Perhaps I should have said: ``With Zimbabwe employing nine boundary fieldsmen for the last ball of the game, we [England] were in a position of strength.'' Ah well, I am sorry, but you live and learn.
Another fax which found its way to me was a double-page article in the News of the World saying that Ian Botham and I had had a major bust-up. It dropped on my lap as ``Beefy'' and I were planning our summer fishing trips and the return golf match, England players versus Sky Television, after the next one-day international.
We both howled with laughter at first, and I accused him of poor sportsmanship as we had already beaten Sky over the Christmas period in our own version of the Ryder Cup. ``Beefy'' was last seen heading for the press tent to have a gentle word in journalist David Norrie's ear. I already had a dinner date arranged with David the following evening, and it was with some relief that he turned up. The funny thing was that I paid for dinner, too. You just cannot beat these press boys.
We were joined at dinner by Peter Hayter of the Mail on Sunday and David Lloyd of the Evening Standard. The other Lloyd arrived sporting 10 stitches in a head wound inflicted in the press tent when John Etheridge of the Sun kicked a chair in anger because his computer had gone on the blink. The leg of the chair came off and hit the other Lloyd on the head. Steady on, you lads, the match referee will have 25 per cent of your match fee with behaviour like that.
Spare a thought for Jack Russell. Because of the make-up of the team, Jack has had little cricket, but he is a wonderful professional and great example to all the other members of the team. He has found time to do some painting and recently organised, along with Nick Knight and Chris Silverwood, a visit to a game park with a view to photographing and then doing a painting of an elephant.
Jack took lots of advice from the wardens as to how to approach the elephant so as not to startle it and make it charge. He erected a barricade and approached it from upwind so as not to give a scent.
He was in position about five metres from the elephant when a warden appeared with a bucket containing its dinner. The warden went straight to the elephant, and made a big fuss of it, patting it and stroking its trunk. It was, in fact, tame.
Our new chairman of the English Cricket Board, Lord MacLaurin, has arrived and created a big impression with the team. He is very supportive and will have a big role to play as we restructure our cricket.
I sense these are exciting times for us as the Zimbabwe leg of our tour draws to a close. We move on to New Zealand and another challenge under different conditions before we meet Australia next summer.
I understand that there has been some scathing criticism back home at times, which is a pity. We are in good heart, working hard and trying to improve. We are all conscious of our obligation to perform well and win, and hope that 1997 will be a big year for English cricket. Can I assure everyone it will not be for a lack of effort, passion, enjoyment and commitment.