BBC SPORT | Special Events | England in Zimbabwe

Nasser Hussain kept a level head after leading England to a 5-0 clean sweep in the one-day series in Zimbabwe.

It was a welcome change of fortune following 11 successive defeats, but Hussain insisted it was only a "starting point".

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He will sit down on Monday with coach Duncan Fletcher and the selectors to pick a squad for the New Year one-day series in India and New Zealand.

And there are senior players like Andy Caddick, Craig White and Robert Croft who will come back into the reckoning.

"Nobody's kidding ourselves that we're just going to be playing Zimbabwe for the rest of our careers.

"This is a start and now we've got to move on from here," he said.

Hussain was taking nothing away from his players, however, five of whom had not played one-day cricket for England before the start of the tour.

"We needed to regroup after the 11 losses, get a bit of team spirit going, get a bit of a buzz out on that field.

Nasser Hussain batting against Zimbabwe
Hussain hits a boundary in Bulawayo

"When I was captaining today in that last 10 overs, when I needed us to go up 20 per cent we did with a great catch from Collingwood, a great run out by myself. That comes from team spirit and all working hard for each other."

He said: "Don't underestimate what they've done. We came here in '96 and lost
3-0 with a much more senior side than this."

Hussain again urged the England and Wales Cricket Board to make an early decision over whether the tour to India goes ahead in the light of US military action in Afghanistan.

"Don't leave players hanging because India is a very, very difficult place to tour. You have to get your mind spot on.

"You have to get your mind right that your'e going to go out there, enjoy the culture and throw yourself fully into the tour," he added.

The atmosphere in the Zimbabwe dressing room was sombre following their 12th successive defeat and their 17th in the last 20 one-day games.

"Things are appalling on the field, and not that great off it either. Who knows where we go from here," said skipper Alistair Campbell.

"We've got a week off now and we need to group together and plan a way forward because we need to turn this thing around, not only for cricket in this country, but also for the sponsors and people out there as well."

Zimbabwe are due to head to Sharjah for a triangular series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"We've played hectic non-stop cricket for about 18 months now. It would have been good to have a break, but that's not the case."