Henry Olonga, nicknamed `the Singing Seamer' by the England press in view of the popular CD he has issued ("Our Zimbabwe"), has had a frustrating year. Injuries have again interrupted his career, and the selectors, perhaps frustrated, have often omitted him when he was fit. He finally returned to the Zimbabwe team for the third one-day international against England. He talks to John Ward about the last few months.

After I came back from New Zealand, it took me a while to work out what I really wanted to do with my future, but the injury dictated a lot to me in terms of how long it would take me to come back. I had my stress fracture diagnosed, and the treatment was basically lots of rest.

I rested well until the Bangladesh series, missing the whole of the Logan Cup, and then I came back to play against them in a warm-up game. It took me more than six weeks. Ever since then I've been available for selection but just haven't been picked. I've played in a couple of warm-up games, one against Bangladesh and the other against South Africa, and just recently against England.

I thought I bowled well against Bangladesh, taking five wickets. We were almost in a position to win that match. Brighton Watambwa bowled extremely well in their first innings and took four wickets, and in the second innings I took three, and I was happy with my return. But I wasn't bowling as well as some of the other players were bowling, and they went on and made their mark in that series.

It proved very difficult for me to come back and make the side, but obviously with injuries to some of these players, and with a bit of loss of form, the door has been opened for me again. I did play in one Test, against India, but I got injured again at the beginning, in my first spell, at Queens in Bulawayo. I just exerted myself too much and strained a hamstring.

I was match-fit against India; I was bowling very quickly and well. I hadn't injured my hamstring in three years before then. It was very disappointing for me. It didn't take long to heal, but then we had effectively three weeks off after the India and West Indies series. In that time I recovered well enough to take the field, but I wasn't bowling well.

I've actually played only four matches in the last ten months, so I'm really lacking in match practice. I've still got a lot of work to do; it's almost a foreign experience for me to be back on the field because I haven't played for so long. The drive and motivation are there; it's just a matter of trying to co-ordinate everything now. I'm still working on getting my action as streamlined as I can so I won't get injured.

There have been injuries to key players already at the beginning of a long season, so I want to make sure that I give myself the best chance this year. I want to keep myself from getting injured and to try to perform at the best of my ability. That is still some way off, but the more I play the better I'll get.

We played some warm-up matches among ourselves, the 16 players in the squad, but it's not as competitive. I played in the warm-up match against South Africa at Queens, but only bowled three overs, and also in the warm-up match against South Africa, and bowled only two overs right at the end of the game. I suppose it was a slowish pitch and the slower bowlers were doing better. It was probably the right judgement, but it just meant I didn't bowl.

After playing against England yesterday, I know I've still got a way to go. There are a lot of encouraging things about it: I put enough balls in the right place to some of the left-handers, to Trescothick, but I've still got to work on my length; but that's just lack of match practice. The more I play, the fewer no-balls, the fewer four-balls, the fewer wides I'll bowl. I got a few past the bat in the first over, and it was encouraging to see that I can bowl a decent length. But with the fact that I haven't played enough cricket comes the inconsistency, and it's just a matter of tightening up over the next few weeks - the next few days! Given time and given the chance, I'm sure everything will come together.

I'm trying to be as streamlined as possible, so I'm trying to be as controlled as I can at the crease, which means I will bowl a lot slower. I won't bowl 140 [kilometres per hour] every ball - not that I ever did. I won't be an out-and-out quick, but it gives me more control, and obviously it means I don't get as tired so I can bowl for longer spells. If the captain needs me to bowl seven or eight overs, I should be able to do it - if I bowl well, of course.

I can bowl an effort ball, and with a bit more thought into my bowling I'll be able to use it wisely. I've also got to develop a few variations in pace - these are things I've had up my sleeve, but I just haven't worked on them long enough to be able to bowl them as consistently as I would have liked.

We're playing England this week, and then we go on tour to Sharjah, if I'm picked. I've got some goals I'd like to achieve and I believe my time has come. I've been sitting on the side for a long time. Asian pitches don't really suit me, but with our new coach [Geoff Marsh] I think there are a lot of positives coming up.

I will need to bowl a better length; you can say the Indian pitches are flat pitches, but the Indian bowlers bowl extremely well on them. In Bangladesh as well, and Sri Lanka, they are hard wickets to bowl on, but Test cricket doesn't come easy. Even one-day cricket is hard work; it's hard work wherever you go in the world. If you go to England you get green seamers; if you got to West Indies you get `flatties', but you can't really win as a bowler unless you adapt, because if you go to Australia as a quick bowler you'll get plundered because everyone thinks, "Ah, nice fast bouncy pitches," but the irony is that their batsmen are used to their conditions and actually relish them.

It's the same in England; Zimbabwean bowlers go to England and think, "It's going to swing and seam around" - it does, but invariably the English batsmen are used to playing in those conditions. So when you think you have the advantage it can turn out to be a disadvantage because the batsmen you bowl to are very skilful in playing in their conditions. That's why spinners often don't do as well in the subcontinent as they are expected to, simply because the batsmen are very good players of spin. So they have to adapt and adjust.

Test cricket is hard; one-day internationals are hard, and the conditions nowadays very often favour the batsman. But it's up to you as a bowler to get your skills equal to the task. You look at the South Africans when they won the series in India just a while back, and their fast bowlers got most of the wickets; it wasn't just the spinners, although Nicky Boje did well.

I remember when we played in West Indies, all the wickets there were flat. There was nothing on offer. I managed to pick up three wickets every Test match; that's not a lot but it just goes to show! Heath [Streak] picked up five in one Test, and that's enough to show me that, even in the subcontinent, bowlers have their place. I haven't bowled well on the two occasions I've been there, but I've had time to think about my game and obviously I'll be able to bowl a lot better this time round - if I go, of course!

I first met Geoff Marsh at the warm-up game we had at Country Club before the first one-day international against England. I think he's going to be a great coach. I think he'll be the best we've had yet. Meeting him and talking to him and hearing him, I think he's got the experience and he's also got the record. He's coached Australia; some might say it's easy to coach the Australian side because they're a winning side, but a bad coach can take a good team and they'll deteriorate.

But I think he's got the best credentials for any coach who has coached Zimbabwe. He's played in a winning team, he's coached a side that's gone on to win the Ashes, and to me that says volumes. So the challenge is: can he take a mediocre team and turn them into world-beaters?

We've lost three-nil to South Africa and three games down in the five-match series against England, so you've nothing to lose, I suppose. But it probably just takes a win to change the season, and the guys are aware of the fact that we haven't played well. Our batting has let us down and our bowling has let us down; if it hasn't been the batting it's been the bowling. We haven't merged all the facets of our game together, and when they do merge on any given day we'll beat any side.

It's obvious these are testing times for Zimbabwe, but as I've said often, when you seem so close to the edge of total defeat, you could be on the verge of something great. Having said that, we've turned in some good performances in the midst of all our struggles, and Andy Flower just played an outstanding game yesterday. The rest of us are lacking in confidence. When the guys start playing with confidence, we'll look like a different side.

I think Geoff Marsh will make a difference there; everything about him is positive. He doesn't border on the negative; I was in a couple of team meetings - he hasn't taken over in his capacity as coach yet but was available to give advice - and everything about him, the way he speaks, the way he talks and handles things, is very positive. That's the Australian attitude that I think we as a team need and I think it will rub off.

Outside cricket, I've just been doing a bit of singing and getting involved in trying to spread goodwill about our nation. I think a lot of people have lost faith in this country and some have left. People overseas have heard our country is not in great shape, and that's a fact. Economically and politically, there are issues that need to be addressed. But there is also a lot of good that comes out of our country, so that's what I've been trying to do, to be an ambassador of goodwill, to present to the world a picture that is different from what the world sees, that Zimbabwe is a great place to live and raise your kids.

Can I talk about my CD by asking you to go to my website? It's on www.henryolonga.com and there's a huge page that tells how the song came about!

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