GRANT FLOWER INTERVIEW

John Ward has interviewed Grant Flower, Zimbabwe's most successful batsman in the triangular series in South Africa.

Grant Flower has long been regarded as the sheet-anchor of the Zimbabwe innings, a solid, patient batsman with few strokes whose job is to hold an end up and prepare the way for strokemakers like Alistair Campbell, Dave Houghton and his own brother Andy. This is hardly the sort of batsman one would expect to be a success in one-day cricket; in fact, he might be a liability.

But Grant Flower no longer fits this mould. The triangular series in South Africa showed that he is developing at a goodly pace as an attacking batsman in his own right. The first match, against South Africa at Centurion Park, set the scene for the tour as a whole. With little support, he scored a superb 90 off just 126 balls to give his team a competitive score single-handed. At the Wanderers in Johannesburg, also against South Africa, he scored 62 off 93 balls, after the first two wickets had fallen for just 6 runs. Against India he scored 28, 28 and 40, and then 61 not out off 71 balls in Bulawayo.

His best innings, he feels, was the 90 at Centurion. "I should have gone on to score a hundred, but I didn't," he admits. "It was a nice flat wicket, good for batting, and I felt really in the groove that day. We kept losing wickets throughout, which shouldn't have happened, because it was a really good batting track. It was really just a case of getting in on a good wicket and batting through the innings, which I did, and hitting an occasional four. It was just a matter of finding the gaps, playing straight -- and you score runs.

"South Africa are a good bowling side and the wickets are a lot quicker than here in Zimbabwe and a bit more bouncy, which I think makes for good batting. If we could take a leaf out of their books and prepare wickets as they do down there, it would be a pleasure to bat on them. Allan Donald is their best bowler; they have a very good seam attack and it wasn't really a spinner's wicket. But I just played straight, in the V, and didn't have any real problems that day."

In the past, as Grant said, Zimbabwe had struggled to reach scores of 200, especially against the South African bowling attack. But, after this good start, Zimbabwe never failed to score 200 in any of their seven matches -- except, ironically, in the two games they won when it wasn't necessary. Without Grant, they would certainly not have done so in this match, and his success probably gave the side the boost it needed to keep scoring well for the rest of the tour. Had Grant failed in this innings, Zimbabwe would have missed that psychological boost and the tour as a whole might well have been different. Answering such ^Ãwhat if' questions are impossible, but it may just be that Grant's 90 was one of the most crucial innings in Zimbabwe's cricketing history.

"I got 62 at the Wanderers on another really good batting wicket," said Grant, reviewing the series. "But generally throughout the tour I kept on getting good starts and I was in the best form I've been in for a long time. But I just didn't go on with them, which was irritating. I got the good starts, and in the first fifteen overs these days you've got to make the most of it, with only two fielders out. If you're an opener, you have to make the most of it, and then bat on from there where the fielders spread out, which makes it a lot easier to work the ball around. I was just disappointed that I didn't go on to make a lot more of my knocks."

What has brought about the increased fluency in Grant's play? Can he find any particular turning point or breakthrough in his career which really made the difference?

"I think I've got slightly stronger, which has helped," he mused. "I've just become more positive mentally and worked out a few more shots in my game. But I think that just comes from playing more cricket and, as you can see from the rest of the team, it's a matter of confidence. When you play more and get more experience, it's got to help. In the past, we haven't always played that much cricket against the top sides.

"I can't really think of one particular innings which was a turning point. I think I was in the shadow of my brother Andy for quite a long time. He was getting the bigger scores before I did, and people have been looking at that and saying, ^ÃI hope Grant can get a few' or something like that. But I think I've come past that now; having said that, it was nothing to do with my brother or his fault in any way, but I think it was just the psychological effect it had on me."

Grant doesn't rate his innings in Bulawayo too highly, although he led Zimbabwe to a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over India. "We were just chasing a small score, and I think mentally and physically the Indians were very tired," he said. "They had had a long tour of South Africa. I think we were on top of them right from the start. Once we got Tendulkar out, that was the great breakthrough for us, a big bonus. Then, cashing 169, I got a good start with Andy Waller, and then I think it was just one of those days when I was hitting the gaps and things were going my way. I don't really think they were up to it in the field that day; I think they were just looking forward to going home, and everything went our way.

"I think Kumble bowled really well in that game; he's probably their best one-day bowler. I think we were quite lucky Srinath wasn't playing because that pitch would have helped him a lot as it did Eddo Brandes in the morning. It got slightly flatter in the afternoon, but it was still quick and bouncy, with movement for the quickies. I think they may have made the wrong decision, with hindsight, selecting three spinners, but that's the way it goes. I think Prasad was very tired also; he had probably been overbowled along with Srinath, and that worked against them."

At the age of 26, Grant is still improving, still working at his game and gaining in confidence. A dedicated professional cricketer, he has a fine future ahead of him, as a cricketer in his own right and no longer under the shadow of his brother. I would back him for a career in excess of 5000 Test runs and an eventual average of over 40, and growing ever more fluent as his career progresses.