It has been a quiet week for Zimbabwe cricket, as the players have finished the easiest part of their long tour and now prepare for the most difficult, the tour of Sri Lanka. They made a dismal start, losing their first two warm-up one-day matches and have a mass of improving to do before the triangular tournament starts on Saturday.

On the international scene, Australia came close to losing their title as ICC Test champions when they could only draw against New Zealand. Had they lost that close final Test match, South Africa would have taken over. That would have been largely Australia's own fault, in one sense.

South Africa's record is credited with series wins over Zimbabwe both at home and away; the ICC apparently decided that the one-off Tests, back to back, in Bloemfontein and Harare two years ago, should count as a two-nil home win to South Africa. Only series of two or more Tests count, and as Australia have still played only one Test match against Zimbabwe, they do not have any qualifying series and therefore no qualifying points from Zimbabwe matches.

South Africa will indeed take over from Australia should the latter fail to win either their home or away series against South Africa. But I think Australia have a good chance of winning both, as they did four years ago when there was still no ICC Test championship. South Africa are having unexpected trouble with their pace attack: Shaun Pollock is fine, but their other top four are struggling.

Allan Donald's fitness is still in doubt; Mfuneko Ngam has suffered one injury after another and still has not returned; Makhaya Ntini has badly lost form; while Nantie Hayward seems to be on his way back but is not there yet. Much depends on the ability or otherwise of Allan Donald to stay fit and find his best form.

Australia, for their part, seem to have endless reserves in all departments, although there are those who feel that the younger players coming through are not of the same quality as the experienced players. Their failure to beat New Zealand should make them more determined than ever to put things right against South Africa. However it turns out, it should be a great series.

Once again the umpiring decisions favoured Australia in their recent match against New Zealand. The likelihood is that they would have lost had Steve Waugh been given out caught at the wicket early in his innings, as he should have been; they might still have lost had not Jason Gillespie been similarly reprieved. Ironically Waugh finally fell, much later, to that most unfair of cricket dismissals, run out backing up as his partner straight-drove and the bowler's fingertips accidentally brushed the ball as it hit the stumps at the bowler's end, just as Australia were beginning to look possible winners. Poetic justice, perhaps.

What we need is perhaps some umpiring decisions to cost Australia a match or two, then they may well start pressing harder for better use of technology to cut down on these errors. They have the necessary clout worldwide to get things done.

One pleasing aspect of that series was the improvement in player behaviour. Both teams have earned themselves reputations for sledging and unnecessary aggravation on the field, but there was generally not a great deal to complain about, even in a series that was unexpectedly close, as a letter from one of our regular Australian readers confirms.

The main exception was the nasty and totally undeserved send-off given by Brett Lee on dismissing New Zealand tail-ender Shane Bond, who failed to score and therefore had had no opportunity of annoying the temperamental pace bowler. Here again we see the double standards applied by match referees, as Virender Shewag was suspended for his antics against an umpire while Lee got away with a fine for his antics against an opponent.

Then we get people like Clive Rice who say how nice it is to have characters like Lee in the game, and what a boring old game it would be if players were stopped from abusing their opponents whenever they felt frustrated. Fortunately most administrators still believe that cricket should be a game played in the traditional spirit by gentlemen rather than boors, even if they don't always handle it very well. In fact, one group of thought is that the Australian team has cleaned up its act on the field largely through the disenchantment of their own public with their on-field behaviour. Let's hope the South African series is played hard but fairly by both sides. If one drops its standards, the other will be quick to follow.

The Zimbabweans actually prefer playing against the Australians rather than the New Zealanders from the attitude point of view. There has been quite a bit of aggravation between the two sides ever since Martin Crowe's team started it on their first tour to Zimbabwe after we achieved Test status. Our players have experienced regular sledging and niggling at the hands of the New Zealanders, and have responded in kind. On the other hand, they have not endured these unsporting tactics to the same extent from the Australians, perhaps because they consider us less of a threat than the New Zealanders do.

Anyway, all credit to both teams for their much more sporting behaviour, although it will take a while, especially for the Australians, to rid themselves of their `ugly' image. Let us hope that other teams worldwide will follow suit, and not just in the international game either.

Like most other Zimbabwean cricket supporters, I am keen for the black Harare club Takashinga (formerly Winstonians) to do well, but it is disturbing to hear reports from several sources of their players' sledging and needling on the field. They are by no means alone in this; Old Georgians, captained by Gus Mackay, have earned themselves a similar bad reputation, while in the Logan Cup the Mashonaland team is unpopular throughout the country for what is perceived as an arrogant and unsporting attitude.

Fortunately Zimbabwe do not usually start problems on the field at international level, perhaps at least partly because many of our players are still somewhat in awe of the big names from other countries. Also fortunately, most of our current international players are not those usually mentioned in dispatches for bad behaviour at a lower level.

ACADEMY

The CFX Academy intake for 2002 has just been announced, and the list is below, kindly supplied with comments from Anthea of the Academy.

Glen Barrett – University of Cape Town, South Africa
Conan Brewer – Old Hararians
Nyasha Chari – Old Hararians (second year)
Neetan Chouhan - Universals
Charles Coventry – Bulawayo Athletic Club
Glenn Goosen – Alexandra Sports Club
Andre Hoffman – Harare Sports Club
Stewart Matsikenyeri - Takashinga
Jordane Nicolle – Bulawayo Athletic Club
Mluleki Nkala – Queens (second year)
Henry Rinke – Old Hararians
Anald Rushambwa - Takashinga
Sherezad Shah - Universals
Vusimuzi Sibanda - Takashinga
Allan Mwayenga – Under-19s
Hamilton Masakadza - Takashinga
Innocent Chinyoka - Uprising

All the lads are required to be at the CFX Cricket Academy from 4 to 6 February 2002 for fitness and injury testing. They have all been notified together with those who didn't make the selection. The CFX Cricket Academy will officially start on 25 February 2002 but the squad will be coming in for practice on 13 February for their first Logan Cup fixture in Mutare from 14 to 18 February.

Next week we hope to interview Dave Houghton for some more information on these players.

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