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EDITORIAL
By John
Ward
Welcome to the first edition of Zimbabwe Cricket Online for the 2000/01
season. We have again experienced difficulty in persuading those who agreed
to contribute actually to do so. We are particularly looking to increase
contributions on provincial, club and school cricket. In the short term,
with no cricket being played in Zimbabwe above club level before the beginning
of February, when the rescheduled Logan Cup programme starts, it may not
be possible to produce an issue every week, but we will do what we can.
A
lot of water has flowed under the bridge since our last issue in April.
Zimbabwe’s cricketers lost all their international matches in West Indies
and made a disastrous start to their England tour, and sources close to
the team believe the players allowed themselves to become seriously distracted
by the on-going pay dispute with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. Andy Flower
was a leading figure in this dispute, a role that was to do much to cost
him the captaincy, although he was one of the few players able to provide
normal service while the controversy was going on. [More]
INTERVIEWS
Dave Ellman-Brown
Zimbabwe Cricket Union chief executive speaks to
John Ward about cricket in Zimbabwe in 2000/01.
JW: First of all, Dave, please could you
outline the on-field programme for Zimbabwe in the near future.
DE-B: As you know, we are in Sharjah at
the moment; after that we will come back for one week and then go to India,
where we will play two Test matches and five one-dayers. We go straight
on to New Zealand where we will have a Boxing Day Test match, which is
now traditional in New Zealand, together with three one-dayers, before
we go to Australia to play in the Carlton and United with Australia and
West Indies. That will take us through to the middle of February.
We are then looking to accommodate Kenya somewhere
along the line in the first quarter of 2001 in order to assist them to
developing eventually to Test status. We believe it’s our responsibility
to give them whatever support we can, and in this regard I have suggested
they should come and see us, to play our A side. It would be good cricket
for our A side, and also it will assist them in developing their game.
We will fit it in with our domestic programme in the first quarter.
We have almost agreed that Bangladesh will come
here, and I think that will be in April. It hasn’t been finally agreed
between the Boards, but it has been tentatively suggested that they should
come here, and we will have a reciprocal tour to Bangladesh in 2001 before
we go to Sri Lanka in December. We have asked Sri Lanka to work out a
programme, working backwards, so we will go from Bangladesh straight to
Sri Lanka.
So we have Bangladesh pencilled in, and then we
have the triangular tournament which we have arranged in principle, although
we have not arrived at a final itinerary yet, whereby West Indies and
India will visit Zimbabwe in our winter of 2001, and that I anticipate
will be in June, July and August. India will come here first and play
two or three Test matches before going into a triangular with West Indies,
and then West Indies will play two or three Test matches.
We then go into the itineraries as laid down by
the ICC. After four years we have come to an agreement whereby tours between
all countries will be fixed from 2001 to 2011. It’s on a five-year cycle,
so the second five years will replicated the first. In that period we
will play every country twice at home and twice away, so in ten years
we will have played each Test-playing country four times. I think it’s
an excellent arrangement which has been a long time in coming. All but
West Indies have agreed on the principle, but I believe they too will
fall in line.
So that’s the programme to the end of 2001; we
had a busy programme last year and we have another busy programme this
year. This year we will be playing something like 13 Test matches and
31 one-dayers, which funnily enough is an average for all Test-playing
countries, what is expected of them in the modern day and age. We have
a lot of good cricket ahead of us, including the experiment of having
the first tour ever to this country during our winter period, and it will
be very interesting to see how that works out. I think it’s going to be
a great success. [More]
Dion Ebrahim
Dion Ebrahim, the lively young number four batsman for the Zimbabwe Board
XI, scored a fine 122 not out in the first innings against Natal B at
Kwekwe Sports Club. He talks to John Ward about his innings. [More]
Nico Pretorius
Umpire Nico (Nick) Pretorius from Northern Transvaal, primarily an Afrikaans
speaker, has been in Kwekwe for the UCBSA Bowl match between the Zimbabwe
Board XI and Natal B. He talks to John Ward after the game. [More]
Craig Evans
Craig Evans is a Russian-roulette type of batsman. He seems to do nothing
at all in nine innings out of ten, only on the tenth occasion to explode
and win a match single-handedly. The one-day match against Natal B in
Kwekwe was one such tenth occasion. Craig talks about it to John Ward.
[More]
LETTERS
Your articles in the "Cricketer" are all about "relationship troubles"
- but that's not what we see from England by following the scorecards!
Zimbabwe have done VERY well to get over the loss of Johnson and Goodwin.
Campbell and Carlisle now look really authoritative at the top of the
order. The opportunity to introduce new YOUNG batsmen has been well taken
with Marillier and Vermeulen. Travis Friend seems to be an instant success
as a new FAST bowler. Viljoen is at last showing that he can BAT - which
was why he was originally picked - and his bowling continues to improve.
Captaincy seems to bring out the batsman in Streak. If these new strengths
can be built together on the tour to India you may have something really
good to celebrate. Just think - a few years ago the loss of two big stars
would have led to a series of feeble team performances and a sense of
going nowhere. Why no Internet newsletter since April? I miss it. Do tell
us if Brian Murphy is going to play more. It was really great to watch
him here last summer.
Hugh Sharp (England)
Reply:
Yes, there have been some good points, but it still cannot be denied that
Zimbabwe’s performances in the two Tests against New Zealand and the first
one-day international were well below par. The Tests were a strange mixture
of good and poor! Brian Murphy is expected to return to Zimbabwe after
finishing his university degree at the end of this year.
[Contact us]
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NEWS
Blignaut Powers Alex To Victory
Despite the somewhat premature commencement of this year’s rains,
two of the three scheduled Vigne Cup fixtures were completed this weekend
in Harare. The match between Old Hararians and Harare Sports Club was
called off after OH were surprisingly unable to raise a side. All of the
sides lost players to the Zimbabwe Board XI which did battle against South
African side Kwazulu Natal in Kwekwe.
Promising all-rounder Andy Blignaut continued his impressive early season
form, scoring a century for Alex against Old Georgians on the weekend
to steer his side to their second win in the Vigne Cup. The 22-year-old
former Academy player has been in tremendous form with the bat so far
this season after a long injury layoff, and although not yet fully fit,
must surely be nudging the national selectors. The big-hitting left-hander
forced his way into the national one-day side last year and has played
in seven one-day internationals, including three against Australia. He
was selected for the Zimbabwe Test side to play against South Africa in
Bloemfontein last year, but was forced to withdraw due a back muscle injury.
He has an encouraging cricketing pedigree, having represented Zimbabwe
at Under-15 and Under 19-levels, as well as Zimbabwe A. Last year he gained
a place in the Zimbabwe Academy and attended the Dennis Lillee MRF Pace
Foundation fast bowling clinic in India. [More]
Matabeleland Cricket Report
Derrick Townshend is our Matabeleland correspondent and a former national
cricketer, an off-spin bowler and more than useful batsman. He has recently
managed Matabeleland teams and his son Matthew made his debut for the
province last season as a pace bowler and aggressive batsman.
The highlight of the start of the Matabeleland season was the visit
by New Zealand for two one-day matches, both of which Zimbabwe won, coupled
with the opening of the new centre adjacent to the media centre.
The centre comprises:
The Matabeleland Cricket Association headquarters, office and large strong
room; a Presidential area with 96 seats on the lower level, 48 seats on
the upper level, a 120 square metre reception area, lounge, dining area,
kitchen and bar.
Players’ area: a 90 square metre changing facility, 80 square metre change
rooms with physics areas 30 square metres inside the viewing area and
20 square metres outside seats for each team.
Umpires’ change rooms, the match referee’s viewing room, with third-umpire
facilities, an upper-level grandstand with 525 seats, a bar, catering
and television. [More]
INTERNATIONAL
THE PLAYER’S VIEW: DIRK VILJOEN ON ZIMBABWE’S VISIT TO SHARJAH
All-rounder Dirk Viljoen, whose previous highest score in 29 one-day
internationals was 36, was one Zimbabwean player who made great strides
forward at the triangular tournament in Sharjah, scoring two sixties against
India, both in difficult circumstances. He talks to John Ward about that
tour.
JW:
Dirk, first of all can you set the scene by describing what it is like
in Sharjah? DV: It’s my second visit there; I made my debut there
in 1997. It’s a fantastic place, with lots of money and everything is
done perfectly. The lights were fantastic and the outfield is brilliant;
there is a really good wicket. The climate is not too good: very hot -
we were playing in 36 degrees with 95 per cent humidity. There are huge
crowds, all supporting the subcontinent, and nobody much shouting for
Zimbabwe.
The people consist mainly of the Asian community rather than the locals
who live in the Arab Emirates; the Arabs I think only make up 20 per cent
of the population. They have a lot of cricket knowledge and most of the
games had full crowds of between 15 and 20 thousand. They know what’s
going on and give the players a lot of attention.
The
pitches played very well; I didn’t see much change batting or bowling
first pitchwise, but the dew was unbelievable, and it was really difficult
to bowl second on there. I don’t know if it’s the time of year in Dubai
but the dew was too difficult to play with. In one game I think we changed
the ball five or six times; it was really difficult to grip and it just
changed into a bar of soap. [More]
BIOGRAPHY
Meet
the Academy players - Richard Sims
Unusually, Richard Sims comes from a family with no interest in cricket,
yet he had an outstanding record as a player at junior school. He has
not quite maintained the promise he showed in his earliest years, but
was rather belatedly offered a place at the CFX Academy and now has a
new chance to make a name for himself in the cricket world.
Richard’s first encounter with the game came in his Grade Two year at
Rydings Primary School in the northern area of Mashonaland. His father,
who was a baseball player and obviously passed on his ball skills to his
son, was a farmer at Banket, northwest of Harare and not far from Chinhoyi,
where Richard’s mother went for his birth. Richard lived all his life
on the farm until he left school. [More]
Meet
the Academy players - Andrew Stone
Andrew Stone is the youngest member of the CFX Academy, just turning
17 years of age when he joined straight after taking his O-level examinations
at school, and he made his first-class debut just two months later. He
is also one of the most promising, having a fine record behind him at
different age-group levels.
Andrew is actually a relative, second cousin by marriage, of the South
African captain Shaun Pollock. His earliest memories of the game are of
playing with other South African cousins on the beach down there while
on holiday. His family has always shown an interest in his cricket but
did not play a great part in introducing him to the game. [More]
ZIMBABWE IN INDIA: TOUR PREVIEW
The Zimbabwe cricket team leaves for India on Saturday 4 November, for
a tour that includes two Test matches and five one-day internationals.
The touring team for the Test-match section is as follows:
Heath Streak (captain), Guy Whittall (vice-captain), Alistair Campbell,
Stuart Carlisle, Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Travis Friend, Trevor Madondo,
Doug Marillier, Brian Murphy, Mluleki Nkala, Henry Olonga, Gavin Rennie,
Bryan Strang, Paul Strang.
The Management team consists of Babu Meman as manager, Carl Rackemann
as coach, physiotherapist Amato Machikicho and fitness trainer and computer
analyst Malcolm Jarvis.
The most notable omissions from the party are Craig Wishart and Pommie
Mbangwa. Current form appears to be the criterion here, as neither has
done particularly well this season, but on the other hand neither has
enjoyed security in the team. [More]
Picture
of the Week
Campbell acknowledges the
crowd after
completing his hundred
copyright CricInfo
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