FULL NAME: Ian Andrew Engelbrecht
BORN: At Bulawayo, 23 August 1980
MAJOR TEAMS: Matabeleland. Present club: Queens Sports Club
KNOWN AS: Ian Engelbrecht. Nicknames: Engels, Angels.
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Slow Left Arm
OCCUPATION: Qualified diesel mechanic

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: 10 March 2000, Matabeleland v Manicaland, at Harare Sports Club
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: Still awaited

BIOGRAPHY (March 2000)

Perhaps one of the most underestimated, and also unrewarded, of Zimbabwe's young cricketers is slow left-arm bowler and all-rounder Ian Engelbrecht, of Bulawayo. He was the most successful bowler in the Logan Cup competition of 2000/01, taking 26 wickets in his five matches, yet at the time of writing his only acknowledgement by the national selectors was to be called into the squad to play Northerns B in Mutare in the UCBSA Bowl competition.

It is perhaps to Ian's disadvantage that he lives in Bulawayo, often out of the eye of the Harare-based selectors, and that he has not attended the CFX Academy, although he may well do so in the future. But there is no doubt that he is talented, dedicated and enthusiastic, and it is to be hoped he will soon get the chance to test his skills at a higher level.

Ian's father was never a great player of the game, and followed it mainly via the television set, but he did much to set Ian and his older brother Paul off on the right track. His parents gave them both a great deal of support, to the extent of constructing a cricket pitch in their back yard when Ian was five or six. The brothers played together every day when they returned home from school, with their father often joining in.

This gave Ian a great advantage when he first played cricket at Whitestone Primary School in Bulawayo, in Grade 3, progressing to the school colts team the following year. He spent two years with the colts and two with the seniors, but did not develop quickly enough to win even provincial representation for Matabeleland at junior school. He bowled left-arm seamers in those days, changing over to spin only at the start of high school, and remembers taking three wickets for 20 runs against REPS (Rhodes Estate Preparatory School) in his first match for the colts team. He was not much of a batsman then, but this area of his game has steadily developed over the years.

He attended CBC (Christian Brothers College) on leaving Whitestone, where he captained his age-group teams and began to impress the selectors. He played for the school first team for two years before leaving school after writing his O-levels to take up an apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic. In Form Three he was selected for the Matabeleland Under-16 provincial team and did well at the Zimbabwe Under-16 trials. Ever since then he was a regular member of the national Under-16 and Under-19 teams as long as he qualified.

He was now a recognized batsman as well as a left-arm spinner; he remembers his second game for the first team when, at the age of 15, he took eight wickets in an innings against Plumtree. "That was basically the highlight of my high school career," he says. He scored his first fifty in Form Three and has steadily progressed from there.

In 1997, although still only 16, he was selected for the Zimbabwe Under-19 team to tour England. "That was an overwhelming experience," he says. "It was something else, at 16 to be selected for the Under-19 national side. It was a very good experience for me, most enjoyable." He remained a member of the Under-19 team, attending the Coca Cola Week for South African schools and the Under-19 World Cup.

Ian plays for Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, although he started off with Bulawayo Athletic Club at the age of 16. He moved to Queens to get some more competitive cricket, as his new club was in the national first league while BAC was undergoing a period in the doldrums of the second league. He followed his brother Paul there; due to work commitments, studying for his law degree, Paul is no longer able to give as much attention as he would like to the game, but he is still playing for Queens.

He remembers scoring 90-odd off 60 to 70 balls in a tough match against Old Georgians last season, which won the match for his team, which really overwhelmed him. "I wasn't really recognized on the batting side of things and it just came off for me that day," he says. He has also taken several five-wickets hauls, not easy in the limited-over competition.

Also during that season he scored 205 not out opening the innings against Macdonald Club, his highest score in any standard of cricket. "It was a 45-over game," he remembers. "I got a couple of hundreds for Queens, national first league as well. 205 in 45 overs - it was just a lot of hitting going on there!" Usually he bats at number five at Queens nowadays.

His Under-19 performances helped to earn him selection for the Matabeleland provincial side. "In my last year, when I was 18, I did really well in the Coca Cola Week and got the Matabeleland selectors' attention. From there I had some Mat B games against some English sides, and then into the Logan Cup side last year. It's been going really well."

His best performance in the Logan Cup, he feels, was the six wickets he took for 48 runs against Midlands, his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. "I don't bother them that much in the first innings, but I came back in the second innings, and I did what I was asked to do and it came off really well for me." He took most pleasure in taking the wickets of such batsman as Douggie Marillier and Craig Wishart in that match.

And Andy Flower . . ."he won't want to remember how I got him out; it was a low full toss he towed to Pom [Mbangwa] at midwicket! They all count, though! But you know, if you get a recognized player, one who's recognized worldwide, it's a great achievement."

He has played winter cricket for Esigodeni in the Matabeleland league, in three or four leagues. "It's the sort of situation where everyone's very relaxed and you always seem to play a lot better when you're very relaxed and the competition's not as great as it should be," he says. "I just play when I can. I've never turned down a game of cricket; if anybody phones me up and wants me to play, I'll play. I'll never turn this game down - never."

Ian names Donald Campbell as the most influential coach of his career. Don is the younger brother of Alistair, and the two first worked together when Don was assistant coach of the Under-19 team to tour England. "He's one of those guys who has a tremendous way about him so that I always want to do anything for him. He's a great guy and has been a big influence on where I am now. He has a very good manner about him and a lot of drive; he passes a lot of his confidence on to you and it's a case where wyou're always having a good time with him and you want to do better the whole time."

With the bat his favourite stroke is the cover drive. "The cover drive is a very special stroke to me," he says. "I watch Daryl Cullinan in the South African side, and he's got to be one of the most fluent players ever. Mark Waugh as well. Daryl Cullinan has that great cut and the drives, but his cover drive is something really special. It's something I model myself on as well."

As a bowler he feels his main strength is patience. "I enjoy bowling long spells and I really enjoy the longer game," he says. "I'm a bit more recognized in one-day cricket, though. And I have the ability to want to learn. I'm very young and they say spinners only really mature later on, but I always want to learn and I'm very interested in what people have to say. I'm just trying to go from strength to strength. You don't want to sit and dwell on the bad performances, but you look at your good performances and try and see where you can improve from there. I think I've got what it takes to go quite a long way and I just hope I get a few more opportunities than I've been given to prove a few points to a few people."

In the field, Ian normally goes into the slips to start with when playing national first league, and after that prefers the boundary. "I enjoy the long throws and the chase. If I'm not right up there I want to be right out of there!"

In 2001 Ian qualified as a diesel mechanic, but has not followed up that career yet, opting to concentrate on cricket. He has a contract to play for Newcastle in English club cricket in 2002, and plans to return and apply for a contract in Zimbabwe, and perhaps a place at the CFX Academy. He was unable to apply in the past due to the demands of his apprenticeship, a four-year course. "It was a difficult decision," he says, "because often through your trade you just want to play cricket. It was from the age of 16 through to 21 that I did this, and it was a real excitement for me on the cricket side of things. But I got my head down and managed to get through it. I just look to concentrate on cricket from here."

Cricket heroes: "Daryl Cullinan, as I mentioned. Daniel Vettori, definitely. He's something special. You see left-arm spinners in so many sides, but Daniel Vettori for me sticks out head and shoulders above the rest. I've always been a spinner's fan, never a fast bowler's fanatic! Daniel Vettori and Saqlain Mushtaq are the two top sinners for me. They may be different spinners, but their perception of where they are and what they're doing is something special."

Personal ambitions: "Playing for Zimbabwe! You must have heard it so many times, but everyone wants to play for his country. It's a case of where, for me, I just want to see how far I can go in this game, and I'm not just going to sit around waiting for an opportunity to come. I play the game because I love it, and ultimately I want to play the most competitive cricket I can, and hopefully to be given a few opportunities here and there to play."

Most difficult opponents: "The most difficult batsman: Alistair Campbell is most definitely one who sticks out, and Andrew Flintoff as well [met in England Under-19 tour 1997]. They are two contrasting players, but I find them both very difficult to bowl to. They get on top of you quickly in different ways, and you have to learn to deal with it.

"Most difficult bowler: this could be tough. Ryan Sidebottom and Alex Tudor. It's a case where you mature later on, and at 16, to be thrown in with those quality cricketers it was just a case of standing there not knowing what to expect. The pace was amazing and I was just in awe; I was 16 and they were 19, and look what they were doing to me. It made a big impact on me then. But nobody now."

Proudest achievement: "To be playing in the Zim B side. It's a step in the right direction. And also the Under-19 side: to be selected for the first time was great."

Best friends in cricket: "Donald Campbell; Neil van Rensburg from Queens; Brad Robinson and Shane Cloete, the physio and assistant coach. They mean a lot, those sort of people."

Other sports: "Squash, mainly in the off season, to try and get a bit of fitness. When I can, to play a bit of golf with a few mates." At school, hockey. "I represented CBC first team for two years."

Other hobbies and interests: "It's a sad state of affairs that I don't have much time to do anything else except play cricket and work as a diesel mechanic. It's unfortunate that I don't have much time off to do those extra hobbies I'd love to do. Fishing is a big part of everybody's life here in this country, so I enjoy a little bit of fishing with the family here and there; a couple of trips to Kariba and the Zambezi, whenever I get the chance."

Views on cricket: "It's difficult for me to judge on that because I'm not really fully involved with the ZCU at the moment. I know things are not going as smoothly as they should, but Zimbabwe is a beautiful place and I do hope that things eventually sort themselves out here. Nobody wants to see this place go down and there are a lot of positives still to come out of this country. I just hope that people realize the full potential of this place, and the potential of the cricketers as well, and just give a few chances where they are deserved.

"I just look forward to playing this game as long as I can. I play this game because I love it and it's in my blood. I just love this game and I don't want to go anywhere from it. For me now, the achievement is just to play the best cricket I can and go from there."

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