Age Group Tours To South Africa December 1998.

The first step on the road to representative cricket for Zimbabwe's youngsters is the Inter-Provincial Partridges Week hosted at Prince Edward School (sponsored for the last time by Allen Wack and Shepherd) which took place from December 7 to 11. Although this was a very wet week in Harare, rain did not interfere and 6 Provincial teams battled it out over 5 days which culminated in the selection of the Zimbabwe Under 13 side which will play against a Zimbabwe Under 14B Select on January 9 at St. George's College. As these players move on to High School they will be hoping to maintain form as they and other Under 14's will take part in another Inter-Provincial in October to select the Zimbabwe Under 14 team which travels to South Africa in December.

The 1998 Zimbabwe Under 14 Team traveled to Potchefstroom in early December to play in the annual Standard Bank Cricket Week. Although they failed to win a game, they showed a great degree of improvement with every game that they played. Particularly impressive with the ball was S.Marisa ( Falcon) whose 4 wicket haul won him a bowling accolade while the following won batting accolades for scoring 50 runs in an innings, L. Perigoe (Falcon) on two occasions, A. Mcvey (Falcon), and the youngest player in the team Brendon Taylor (Lilfordia) who will still be eligible for next year's team. There was a noticeable improvement in the fielding with R. Kitcat (Peterhouse) leading the way.

The Under 16 Zimbabwe team who had struggled 2 years ago at their Under 14 week showed a most pleasing improvement at the P. G. Bison Week which was held at Stellenbosch. As they only arrived at 11p.m. the night before the week began they had no time to acclimatise before they took on a strong Western Province side the next day and yet they were able to bowl them out for 106 (This included 36 extras as the Zimbabwean bowlers struggled to control the use of an unfamiliar 2 piece ball) with seamers J. Rawson (St. Georges College) taking 3 wickets and Skipper Andrew Stone (St. Johns College) taking 2 wickets. Unfortunately the Zimbabwean batting also struggled and were bowled out for only 70 (Arthur Harley (Falcon) scoring 17 and Andrew Stone scoring 16) and so lost by 36 runs...the same amount of extras that were bowled earlier in the day!! Western Province went on to remain unbeaten at the tournament. The next day the batsmen were in much better form and after 44 overs were 209-6 against Free State with Arthur Harley (49) and Andrew Stone (34 not out) leading the way but this time well supported by the impressive Churchill trio Tatenda Taibu (36), Stuart Matsikenyire (24), H. Masakadza (23). However at this juncture, the rain came down and the game was abandonded. The next day saw the Zimbabweans inflict a heavy defeat on a strong South African Country Districts team (their only one of the week) by 100 runs. Zimbabwe rattled up 243-9 (H. Masakadza 71, Arthur Harley 45, Andrew Stone 35, Stuart Matsikenyire 27) and bowled their opponents out for 143 (Mohammed Sirdar (St. Georges) 4-19 and leg spinner H. Masakadza 3-16). A thrilling game took place against Eastern Province on the fourth day with Zimbabwe scoring 237-8 (Andrew Stone 63, A. Coventry (CBC) 39, H. Masakadza 22) while Eastern Province only managed the winning run off the last ball of the match to win by 4 wickets. Although the last game against Boland was also lost, the side can take heart from some fine performances, particularly H. Masakadza who won two batting prizes including one for the most aggressive innings of the week----his 71 against SACD and Andrew Stone won the prize for the best running and calling between wickets.

The Under 19 team were also in the Cape for two 3day games and as very few of the squad have any experience of the longer game it was not surprising that the team succumbed to Western Province in the first of the two games. WP scored 346 in their first innings (Mluleki Nkala (Falcon) taking 3-47 and Dirk Bezuidenhout (Eaglesvale) picking up 4-74) Zimbabwe's batsmen failed to observe the number one rule of the longer game---- to occupy the crease and they were bowled out for 167 (Greg Lamb (Lomagundi) 90,Mluleki Nkala 25) and fared even worse in the second innings scoring only 118 with skipper Mluleki Nkala the one batsman to show some resistance with 33 not out. The team showed great character however to bounce back in the second game against Boland to win by 46 runs. Zimbabwe totaled 275--8declared (Alester Maragwede (Churchill) 76 Mluleki Nkala 41, Dion Ebrahim (Falcon) 36,and Dirk Bezuidenhout 58 not out.)The team then had Boland 88-8 but managed to get to 184 all out with Alex Lucas (Falcon) taking 2-28 but the pick of the bowlers was left arm spinner Ian Engelbrecht (BAC) who sent down 30 overs and claimed 6 wickets for 100 runs. The Zimbabwean second innings rattled up 202-3 with Guy Croxford (Falcon) 39 and Travis Friend (St. Georges) 85 making the main contributions with the bat. Boland were then dismissed for 246 with Mluleki Nkala picking up 2 for 22 and off-spinner Mercury Kenny (Prince Edward) 3 wickets for 77 runs.

The team then flew to Johannesburg to take part with 19 other South African Provincial teams in the annual Coca--Cola Under 19 (formerly Nuffield Week) Tournament. The Zimbabwean team was in the top section and secured good wins against Free State and Easterns but were defeated by Natal, Western Province and Northerns. Generally the batsmen failed to score off the bad ball and too many players got out when looking well set with Greg Lamb's 60 against Free State and Travis Friend's 58 against Natal the exceptions to this failing. Zimbabwean bowlers tended to give away too many extras and although Gavin Wren (CBC) showed promise as a strike bowler, the team was handicapped by a back strain injury to the most experienced player in the team--Captain Mluleki Nkala. Of the spinners in the side, Ian Engelbrecht was the most economical. The team finished with a game against the South African Colts team (in effect South Africa Under 19B). Zimbabwe raced to 100-3 off 20 overs but could not capitalize on this good start and were dismissed for 151 and lost by 6 wickets. The team has one final home fixture a 3day game against Natal Under 19 from January 4---6 at Alexandra Sports Club followed by a 1day game against the same opposition on January 7 at Old Hararians.

Although the overall results in these South African cricket weeks are a little disappointing but it must be noted that Zimbabwe does not have the financial resources of the major South African Provinces ( at least one Province spends R2 million on its Under 19 team alone!) and arriving at these tournaments the night before after a 3 or 4 day preparation in Harare is not the ideal preparation. With the falling Zimbabwe Dollar these cricket weeks are becoming more expensive and although there was a generous sponsorship from Zimbabwe Express Airlines the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and parents had to dig deep so that these tours could take place. In fact, Cricket is the only major sport that sends away 3 age group sides every year. However it is hoped that national age group squads of excellence will be in place in Harare and Bulawayo under the auspices of National Coach David Houghton at the end of January so that Zimbabwe's age group representatives will be better equipped to embark on the big learning curve that will take the most talented players to playing against the elite of the cricketing world.