By John Ward

I'm sorry to say it, but I have never seen Zimbabwe play so badly so often as they have done this year. Another defeat, this time by an England team that was not impressive on the day, except during the partnership between Nick Knight and Nasser Hussain. I can find no other way around it: a large part of it has to be an inferiority complex, which the players prefer to call lack of confidence. Andy Flower is the greatest exception, but so few players in the team seem to be following his example. He can lead the way in teaching the other players the mental strength that has made him the world's number one Test batsman at present, but are many of the others listening? [More]

INTERVIEW

Heath Streak on the SA tour

Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak talks to John Ward about the South African tour, which was always going to be difficult but was particularly disappointing in that Zimbabwe lacked self-belief and failed to make the tourists fight for victory. He also gives his views on the top South African players. [More]

Nasser Hussain on the Zim series
England cricket captain Nasser Hussain believes that its time England put a stop to the losing streak that has seen them lose 11 consecutive one-day matches since last year. The first game of the five-match series against Zimbabwe was at Harare Sports Club and England were taking it easy after a comfortable 138-run win over Zimbabwe A in a warm-up match in the capital on Monday. "There can't be many changes obviously from Monday. That's why we played that [particular] team. We had a look at the wicket today and we will have a management meeting later to select the team. "Also there are no injury worries. We were a bit stiff this morning after yesterday's match. We worked very hard as you have seen so we had a very easy day today ready for tomorrow." [More]

LETTERS

STILL A BIG FAN
I am an ex-Zim from way back, but still a huge fan. I was in the stand at Eden Park in Auckland when Zim won the series against NZ. Mine was the lone voice in the crowd that shouted, "We won!" as Heath hit the last runs. My wife looked up at me and said, "Who's 'we'?". Never mind, we still love each other. Pity about current results against SA, but we all love giving the Poms a pasting. Soften them up for NZ, please.
George Booth (New Zealand) [More Letters]

STATISTICS

Zimbabwe v England: ODI records [More]

Midlands cricket report
by Colin Saunders
It is less than three weeks until the official start of the internal cricket season and teams in the Midlands Province are gearing up for an all-out assault on the first and second leagues, as well as the North and South Zone leagues. Last year was the first year that Kwekwe Sports Club competed in the first League and although they would have liked to have finished higher in the league, by and large they performed admirably. The highlight of their season was beating Old Georgians in Kwekwe. [More]

Matabeleland cricket report
by Derrick Townshend
Local league started in Bulawayo over the weekend and the most encouraging result came from the newly introduced Bulawayo Development team which recorded a comprehensive win over Milton by 184 runs. Both teams were making their debuts in first-league cricket. This innovation augurs well for cricket and the future development of black cricket in line with the policy of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, and their progress will be closely followed. [More]

Manicaland Cricket Report
by Nigel Fleming
With Manicaland's first-league season due to start in the next few weeks, most of the young coaching professionals have returned from their U.K. winter employment. Alec Taylor, Kingsley Went, Richie Sims and Neil Ferreira will join new academy graduates Justin Lewis, Ian Coulson and Leon Soma in a tighter than normal fight for first team places. Missing from last season will be Patrick Gada (emigrated to the U.S.A.) and Jason Young (future undecided - awaiting developments in the U.K.). [More]

Schools' cricket report
by Tristan Holme
St. George’s beat arch-rivals Prince Edward on Saturday by 85 runs, and in doing so won their first match of the school term. St. George’s batted first on their home pitch, and managed to score 273 for six in their allotted 50 overs, a large score at any level of the game, but an especially large one in schools cricket. [More]

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