Well, that turned out to be a pretty quick one! Maybe it's the enthral and the spice of four five-day Test matches talking, seeing one get completed in just 2.5 days. New Zealand still managed to lose a wicket, chasing a target in single digits, but they managed to get home, which was the most important thing, taking a 1-0 lead in the two-match series against Zimbabwe. Apart from a couple of phases, Zimbabwe were never really in the game and a good thing for New Zealand was that several players put their hand up in critical junctures to take their side through.
The Sean Williams-Craig Ervine resistance on the third day with the bat and the phase with the ball on the second day when Zimbabwe took 6/75, reducing New Zealand from 158/1 to 233/7 were the only ones where the hosts looked like putting up a fight, showing some resistance but the Kiwis had enough depth and strength to recover from those periods to wrap up the game in less than eight sessions.
Matt Henry, evidently, with his second nine-wicket haul for the match, was the star of the show for New Zealand with the ball, keeping Zimbabwe batters under constant pressure. Will O'Rourke and Mitchell Santner, on his captaincy debut, too chipped in, in the second innings as it was a collective performance with the ball after Henry's six-fer in the first innings.
With the bat, Devon Conway began magnificently in the first innings but narrowly missed out on his century. Then there was a mini collapse in the middle order before Daryl Mitchell resurrected the innings with an 80-run knock, with contributions from Santner and Nathan Smith lower down. The 158-run lead seemed a daunting one for Zimbabwe, who came in to bat again, hoping to avoid an innings defeat.
The William-Ervine stand, although it didn't go as far as it could, did help the hosts in achieving their first target.
New Zealand are ahead in the series 1-0 and will fancy their chances to make it 2-0, however, there is an imminent return for Brendan Taylor on the horizon in the second Test for Zimbabwe.
