By Jonathan Agnew BBC cricket correspondent

Unless a way can be found for some more of the sacked white players to return to the Zimbabwean side, the continued presence of this team threatens the integrity of international cricket.

It was men against boys, illustrating the massive gulf between the two teams

And the team's return to Test cricket - scheduled for January 2005 - will be short-lived.

Zimbabwe's second-heaviest defeat in one-day cricket was an unusual affair.

Halfway through the morning, nobody would have predicted such an enormous margin would eventually separate the teams.

That was because England, on 121-5, were really struggling.

Had Kevin Pietersen been run out by much of the length of the pitch - as he should have been on only four - things might have been very different indeed.

Elton Chigumbura was the culprit. All he had to do was throw the ball with reasonable accuracy to the bowler from square leg, and Pietersen would have been well short of his ground.

But the youngster panicked, lobbed the ball well over Stuart Matsikenyeri's head and, my word, did Pietersen make Zimbabwe pay.

With Geraint Jones, the tall right-hander added a record 120 for the sixth wicket in only 85 balls.

The ball disappeared all over the ground as the pair hit five sixes and 10 fours between them, and the game swung back England's way in a rush.

Jones fell for 66 - his first limited-overs half-century - and Pietersen finished undefeated on 77 in only his second match.

Wharf was impressive after England's wayward start with the ball

He is an impressive player.

There was a time in the 1980s when batsmen made an early movement from leg to off, before the ball was delivered, in order to set themselves up for their stroke.

This technique rather lost popularity in England, but Pietersen - from South Africa, of course - gets himself across in front of his stumps and flicks the ball away through mid-wicket.

Darren Gough and James Anderson then bowled very poorly indeed. Between them 12 wides were delivered, and Zimbabwe were able to move to 40 before losing their first wicket.

Then the wheels fell off in dramatic fashion as ill discipline and panic gripped Zimbabwe's young batsmen.

They lost 10 wickets for 62 runs and crashed to 102 all out in the 36th over with Paul Collingwood's gentle medium pace taking 3-16 and Alex Wharf 4-24.

It was men against boys, illustrating the massive gulf between the two teams.