“WE MURDERED THEM!”

Zimbabwe’s inaugural Test versus England ended with a history-making result in a dramatic finale with scores level and the match still drawn. Funny, isn’t it?

The result which I heard four years ago on BBC sports news on 22 December is still vivid in my memory. The match was great drama, memorable theatre and unforgettable cricket because no one won. A unique feat.

It was England that -

1) held out against Zim’s repeated plea to join the list of Test nations.

2) who snatched Zim’s talented son - Hick.

3) who break the norm by not playing the first Test against the newest entrant.

4) who assigned only a Scarborough festival match to Zim when they toured there.

5) who was on receiving end at Albury.

So, nothing surprising when they lost three of six matches on their first tour of Zim before this historic test.

Coming to this great match, Waller at 37 years became the oldest Zim to make his debut. (And it took him 9 years to appear in a Test). Campbell reached the 1000-run milestone. Andrew Flower - the great, reverse-swept Tufnell to reach a hundred and also became the first Zim to take 50 catches. Paul Strang nailed five batsmen and his younger brother took an extraordinary one-handed catch when the ball seemed to be soaring for a six.

The players kept the adrenaline flowing up to the last ball when three were needed off it. Sadly ill feeling marred the historic finish.

Lloyd was censored by TCCB and Streak fined 15% of his fee. But I support Campbell - "Sure we used negative tactics in the final session, but you don’t just throw a Test away."

Conclusion - minnows slaughter giants!

Situ Phalswal (India)

ZIMBABWE COMMENTS

Are the Zimbabwean selectors for real? I think we now all know why Alistair Campbell hasn't been selected to play for Zimbabwe in Sri Lanka. Even though he has disciplinary problems, I think by now he has learnt his lesson.

Gavin Rennie would have to be in contention for the national squad again with some good scores against Kenya. Mark Vermeulen has managed to play in one one-day international match so far in his career. He scored 22 runs which for a Zimbabwean batsmen is ‘quite adequate’. I think when Bangladesh went to Zimbabwe to play in the two-Test series at the start of the year, instead of playing Dion Ebrahim, Mark Vermeulen should have been given the opportunity.

I'm not going to bag the selectors completely. They gave players like

Masakadza, Brent, Blignaut, and Watambwa a chance and all those players have done well.

I think the Zimbabwean team lacks the fighting spirit apart from players like Andy Flower and Streak. The Australian lower order - i.e. Warne and Brett Lee - have a fighting spirit and they score more runs against South Africa than the Zimbabwean top order scores against Bangladesh. Looking at the total number of runs scored in test matches for the season it is not to good to see that the second-highest run-scorer is also the leading bowler. Well done to Heath Streak.

Last year when Zimbabwe toured Australia, it was good to see that most of the Zimbabwean players went around and signed autographs at a tour match, especially Bryan Strang who walked around the ground chatting to the crowd and signing autographs for about an hour and a half. Players like Campbell and Whittall who didn't sign any autographs or talk to the crowd should take a leaf out of Bryan Strang’s book.

Can you tell me why Zimbabwe sent home Paul Strang from Sri Lanka?

Trevor (Australia)

MESSAGE TO THE SELECTORS

I think the selectors need to rethink their selection policy. I agree that Hamilton Masakadza should be in Sri Lanka but I also think they should have brought back two or three of the batsmen who played in the Triangular Series. It seems to me rather obvious that they will struggle to get many runs in the Test series.

Why not give Mark Vermeulen a chance in Test cricket? After 21 first-class games he still has a very high average of 39.39. A lot of the current batsmen in Sri Lanka don't even have a first class average of 30. Gavin Rennie should also be flying to Sri Lanka. He has been in form lately yet the selectors seem to want to deliberately ignore that fact. What is the point of having people play first-class games and score many runs and not reward them with a chance to score much-needed runs in Tests?

I also think Brighton Watambwa should have replaced Nkala. Nkala has struggled to bowl at international level and should go back and learn how to do the basics right. Watambwa got quite a few Kenyan wickets so why not reward him with a Test recall?

What has happened to Andy Blignaut? The last I remember he got injured just before South Africa came and he hasn’t been talked about since. He looked quite promising as a genuine all-rounder.

Finally I would like to say good luck to our boys.

Sibusiso Nkomani (Belgium)