Date-stamped : 21 Oct97 - 06:22
Approach plays dividends

>From Shaun Orange in Nairobi


Zimbabwe's convincing victory in the Trust Bank Tri-Nations
cricket tournament at the weekend has been put down largely to a
professional approach combined with some superlative individual
performances.

The Zimbabweans beat Kenya 2-0 in the best of three finals at
the Gymkhana Sports Club after finishing the preliminaries with
a four-match unbeaten run, as they brushed aside both the host
team and Bangladesh.

For Zimbabwe, there were two new landmarks in the batting and
bowling, while Kenya set two world records in the one-day game.

Andy and Grant Flower posted a first wicket stand of 161 in
their first fixture of the competition, while Bryan Strang
finished with figures of 6-20 against the same opposition in the
second round to eclipse the 5-21 his brother Paul took at the
World Cup against Kenya last year.

Kenya's Kennedy Otieno and Deepak Chudasama set a world best 225
for the first wicket against Bangladesh, beating the previous
mark of 212 set by Australia's Geoff Marsh and David Boon
against India in 1986.

The second world record set by the hosts during the two-week
tournament came against Zimbabwe when Thomas Odoyo and Tony Suji
beat the seveth wicket record of Jeff Dujon and Malcolm Marshall
of the West Indies (115). The Kenyan pair moved that mark to
119.

Zimbabwe's batting was highlighted by five consecutive
half-centuries from man-of-the-tournament Andy Flower, who
accumulated 375 runs at an averge of 62.5 in six matches, while
Grant totalled 389 (average 64.8) and Guy Whittall 254 (average
62.3). Most of the bowling, apart from Strang's heroics, was
done by the spinners: Paul Strang, Andrew Whittall and Adam
Huckle, on pitches that were specially prepared for spin.

Team manager Babu Meman only had praise for his side following
Zimbabwe's first-ever triumph in a cup competition in the Test
era.

"It was a good tour and we are happy with the result," said
Meman yesterday.


Source: The Herald (Harare) 21 October 1997.