While the senior Zimbabwe cricket team were battling to find form and consistency in the recently concluded series against Sri Lanka, there was encouraging news at the junior level as the three Zimbabwe age-group teams made their annual trek to take part in their respective tournaments.

Pride of place this year must go to the Under-14 team who travelled to Kimberley for the Standard Bank cricket week. Previous Zimbabwe Under-14 teams have struggled at this level against South African provinces who are always larger both in terms of numbers of players to choose from and the physical size of their individual 13-year-olds. This year the Zimbabwean team achieved the proud record of four wins, one draw and only one defeat, that by the margin of one run. The first game was against hosts Griqualand West as a warm-up to the tournament which Zimbabwe won by six wickets.

The first match of the actual week saw Zimbabwe run up a total of 236 against Boland with captain James Cameron leading the way with 101, which turned out to be the highest score of the tournament. The opposition never threatened to challenge the target and the match petered out to a tame draw.

In the next match Zimbabwe dismissed Free State for 159 but in the chase lost wickets along the way, and in an exciting finish lost by the narrowest of margins, though possibly the side might have felt a little aggrieved by a couple of late umpiring decisions which went against them, especially when the Zimbabwean supporters noticed the umpire concerned joining in the victory celebrations of the winners. There was some consolation in the bowling performance of Elton Chigumbura who bowled well to take four wickets for 38 in his 12 overs.

Undeterred, the team bounced back the following day to trounce Northern Transvaal by six wickets, aided by a fine all-round performance by Duncan Bradshaw who took two wickets and scored 42 runs. The margin of victory was the same the following day against Eastern Transvaal when two fine knocks of 84 by David Irvine and 73 from James Cameron saw the side successfully chase a total of 224.

The final game resulted in another close finish, this time against Eastern Province. Zimbabwe totalled 202 for seven with wicket-keeper batsman Brendan Taylor scoring a fine 91 which turned out to be the second-highest score of the entire week. Eastern Province were restricted to 194 which gave the Zimbabweans a well-deserved win by 8 runs.

Team manager Themba Mkosana was full of praise for a fine all-round team effort, particularly in the field where in most of the games wickets were shared among all the bowlers, though Elton Chigumbura's four-wicket haul against Free State saw him win Zimbabwe's only bowling accolade of the week. There were not surprisingly four batting accolades for Zimbabwe's run-hungry batsmen: James Cameron (twice) Brendan Taylor and David Irvine.

All in all it was a most outstanding performance from this team which augurs well for the future.

RESULTS:

1. v GRIQUALAND WEST

GRIQUAS 117 (T. Mawoyo 2/14). ZIMBABWE 118/4 (J. Cameron 30, T. Mawoyo 23). Zimbabwe won by six wickets.

2. v BOLAND

ZIMBABWE 236/7 (J. Cameron 101, C. de Grandhomme 43). BOLAND 111/1. Match drawn.

3. v FREE STATE

FREE STATE 159/9 (E. Chigumbura 4/38, J. Cameron 2/29). ZIMBABWE 158 (B. Taylor 35, D. Irvine 33). Free State won by 1 run.

4. v NORTHERN TRANSVAAL

NORTHERNS 136 (D. Bradshaw 2/27, J. Cameron 2/11). ZIMBABWE 140/4 (D. Bradshaw 42, B. Taylor 35, N. Davidson 24, J. Cameron 21). Zimbabwe won by six wickets.

5. v EASTERN TRANSVAAL

EASTERN TRANSVAAL 224/4. ZIMBABWE 225/4 (D. Irvine 84, J. Cameron 73). Zimbabwe won by six wickets.

6. v EASTERN PROVINCE

ZIMBABWE 202/5 (B. Taylor 91, D. Irvine 21, C. de Grandhomme 21). EASTERN PROVINCE 194/6 (S. Williams 2/23, D. Irvine 2/22, G.

Ziegler 2/30). Zimbabwe won by 8 runs.

UNDER-16 WEEK

Unfortunately there are no details of the Under-16 team which took part in the P. G. Bison Week in Pretoria, though it is known that they won one game, drew another and lost three games. Two of these matches were lost in the last over, one by three runs and the other by one wicket.

UNDER-19 WEEK

The Under-19 team took part in the Coca-Cola Week in Potchefstroom. Prior to this week they played two three-day games. The first was away against Easterns, which ended in a good win for Zimbabwe by 65 runs after they had lost a good toss to win and played virtually the whole game with only 10 men after losing Michael Munson to injury. The second game against Natal in Harare was severely rain-affected and it needed three declarations to make it a contest, with Zimbabwe going down by 170 runs.

Zimbabwe were placed in the top pool at the Coca-Cola Week and they did not start off too well by going down to a strong Gauteng side on the first day by eight wickets. The team did well the next day to bowl out Western Province for 167, but when the rain came the Zimbabwe batsmen were struggling at 70 for five and lost the game on a run-rate calculation. Worse was to follow on day three when Free State scored a massive 291 for seven off their 50 overs and Zimbabwe found themselves all out in the 41st over for 162.

However it is to the credit of the team that they picked themselves up after this poor start and recorded a convincing win over the highly rated Northern Gauteng side. For once the batsmen put together a defendable total with Charles Coventry (who was in the team as a late replacement for the injured Michael Munson) leading the way with a fine 94. He was well supported by Guy Croxford who made 47 not out, while Zimbabwe B team player Greg Lamb came to light with 41. The opposition were bowled out for 207 with the wickets being shared by captain Mluleki Nkala, fellow seamer Hilton Henderson and spinners Gavin Ewing and Michael Sherren.

The final game of the week was against Border and this was also rain- affected. Border were restricted to 127 for nine off their allotted 39 overs while Zimbabwe were on 116 for six after 28 overs when rain ended the game. Zimbabwe were declared the winners on a calculation, as they were required to be on 105 at the end of 28 overs.

At a dinner that evening South African teams were announced including a South African Colts (in essence a South African B team) to play the Zimbabweans the following day. Once again the Zimbabwe team got it right when it counted the most. The South Africans were bowled out for 134 with Hilton Henderson returning the superb figures of five for 33 off his 10 overs. Greg Lamb continued his good form with the bat, scoring 68 not out, and he was well supported by vice-captain Travis Friend and Alester Maregwede to ensure an emphatic win by seven wickets for the Zimbabweans. It is a credit to the whole squad, including manager Win Justin-Smith, and coach Iain Butchart, that the team were able to bounce back in such an impressive manner. Credit must also go to skipper Mluleki Nkala, the most experienced player in the party, for his consistent form with bat and ball.

The team now breaks for Christmas and New Year, but resume practices on 3 January as they fly out to Sri Lanka on 6 January for the Under-19 World Cup. There are 16 nations taking part and Zimbabwe have been placed in the toughest group with current holders of the cup England, the West Indies and a combined team from the Americas with players from Argentina, Canada, Bermuda and the United States. It will be a tall order for the Zimbabwe team but if they can continue their improvement they are in with a chance of emulating the team of 1998 who defeated the West Indies and went through to the final stages of the competition.

RESULTS FROM THE COCA-COLA WEEK (ALL GAMES 50 OVERS )

1. v GAUTENG A

ZIMBABWE 168 (46 overs) (M. Nkala 30, G. Lamb 25, S. Ervine 24). GAUTENG A 170/2 (44 overs). Gauteng A won by eight wickets.

2. v WESTERN PROVINCE A

WESTERN PROVINCE A 167 (43 overs) (M. Nkala 4/18, S. Ervine 3/35). ZIMBABWE 70/5 (27 overs) (A. Maregwede 28 not out). Western Province A won by 57 runs (on calculation).

3. v FREE STATE A

FREE STATE A 291/7 (50 overs) (M. Nkala 3/31, H. Masakadza 2/38). ZIMBABWE 162 (41 overs) (C. Brewer 26, C. Coventry 25, M. Nkala

24*). Free State won by 129 runs.

4. v NORTHERN GAUTENG A

ZIMBABWE 263/5 (50 overs) (C. Coventry 94, G. Croxford 47*, G. Lamb 41, S. Ervine 26*). NORTHERN GAUTENG A 207(45 overs) (M. Nkala 3/34, M. Sherren 2/15, G. Ewing 2/33, H. Henderson 2/34). Zimbabwe won by 56 runs.

5. v BORDER

BORDER 127/9 (39 overs) (G. Ewing 4/26, H. Henderson 2/14, T. Friend 2/23). ZIMBABWE 116/6 (28 overs) (G. Lamb 23, S. Ervine 22*). Zimbabwe won by four wickets.

6. v SOUTH AFRICAN COLTS

SOUTH AFRICAN COLTS 134 (32 overs) (H. Henderson 5/33, T. Friend 2/5). ZIMBABWE 137/3 (35 overs) (G. Lamb 68*, T. Friend 24*, A. Maregwede 21). Zimbabwe won by seven wickets.