Zimbabwe Cricket Online editorial, issue 5

How nice it is to have one's criticisms and comments answered so smartly and positively! We have much good to report on concerning the Second Test match between Zimbabwe and India at Nagpur that has just been completed.

Last week I pointed out Zimbabwe's weakness in that they rarely seemed to bat well as a team twice in the match, and that they seemed to have lost the ability to force draws. At Nagpur they amassed 382 and 503 for six wickets, a total of 885 runs in the match, which greatly exceeds their previous match aggregate in Test cricket, which was 688 against New Zealand at Queens Sports Club in 1997/98. It was a good batting pitch, but taking spin, so it was a fantastic effort to bat out more than three days of the match to earn a draw. Hopefully this fine performance will encourage them to bat with more resolution and confidence in future Tests. And not only did they score heavily, but they did it by batting positively, seeking to dominate the bowlers and keep the score moving at all times.

SUCCESS OF THE OLD GUARD

It was the `old guard' who led the way, if such a term can be used when two of the three players concerned are not yet 30. Pride of place must go to the incredible Andy Flower, who took his Test career average to over 50 with his fifty and then wonderful double-century, following almost two days in the field keeping wicket. Only a few days ago I read an Australian article that casually referred to Adam Gilchrist as the best wicket-keeper/batsman in the world. I will refrain from further comment on that. Of all Andy's great achievements, this Nagpur Test must probably have taken more out of him than any other, and I only hope he can retain his energy as the team goes into a five-match one-day series in India, followed by a Test and one-day series in New Zealand and a triangular tournament in Australia. They come home to the Logan Cup competition, in which the international players will be expected to play, probably unless the Zimbabwe Cricket Union sees fit to let one or two of them rest, and then home series against Bangladesh, India and West Indies. Even his tremendous stamina may demand a break before the end of the season in July or August.

Congratulations to Alistair Campbell on recording his first Test century, the first Test batsman to do so after scoring 2000 runs. It must have been a tremendous relief for him, especially when he was able to hit three successive fours to reach the landmark and avoid a long period scratching his way through the nineties. His nerve could have failed him and persuaded him to push those deliveries for ones or twos, but he chose the grand manner. His dismay at getting out soon afterwards was obvious, as he felt he had let his team down, but fortunately the later batsmen did not let him down. Campbell has many critics in Zimbabwe, but hopefully they will now acknowledge that he is a reformed character. That does not mean to say he will never again throw his wicket away cheaply and unnecessarily, but that has ceased to be a way of life for him as he has brought new determination and discipline into his play. It will be a surprise if more centuries do not follow.

Grant Flower was the third Zimbabwe centurion of the match, batting at number six for the first time. After his failure in the First Test he had his hair cropped short, almost to the bone (whether self-inflicted or done by his team-mates is unclear), and one person, a great admirer of Grant's incidentally, said that it made him look like a lost vulture! His dashing century showed with absolute clarity that his failures at the top of the order had been almost entirely mental. It was also good to see that Guy Whittall, the man he exchanged places with, scored an aggressive 83 and for once the Zimbabwe innings began with a flourish instead of a crawl. The experiment was clearly an outstanding success.

Our bowling was less successful - in fact, it was often a shambles. Even Heath Streak was not at his best, and one wonders whether captaincy is preventing him from giving full attention to his bowling while on the field. Good line and length were rare virtues, and it is no wonder that India were able to compile more than 600 runs in less than two days. It looked as if the team's bowlers had said to themselves before the start, "We've just finished another Test with just two days' break and now we have to go out and bowl to India on a batting paradise - we're stuffed!" They certainly bowled like it. Unfortunately the absence of any man on the spot means that we cannot find out just what is going on behind the scenes that might affect the play. We can only wonder how it was that so much bad bowling could immediately be followed by so much superb batting. If the team truly felt demoralized it would affect every department of the game.

WHERE IS THE YOUNG GUARD?

These three batsmen have all played in every single one of Zimbabwe's 47 Test matches today, the only exception being when Grant Flower broke a thumb before Zimbabwe's home Test victory against India three years ago. The next most experienced batsman is Whittall, but it is disappointing that none of the younger batsmen have yet really established themselves. Stuart Carlisle again twice began well but lost his wicket when he should have been set for a big score. But with his determination he will surely learn. As for the others, constant chopping and changing may well be holding them back, as they cannot be confident of their places from one match to the next. But they will just have to accept this is the situation and work around it, hard though it may be, and hopefully someday soon we will find another Test centurion - and stick with him.

ONE-TEST WONDERS

Dirk Viljoen flew out to India to replace Paul Strang, who has suffered a recurrence of the injury to his bowling arm, and was immediately put into the Test team at number seven. As Dave Houghton says, he has not yet quite found an identity as a batsman or bowler, but he played two useful innings, no doubt a source of relief for him. He played in his only other Test match against Pakistan nearly three years ago, opening the batting against Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis when he prefers the middle order and had not at that stage even recorded a fifty in first-class cricket. One can only assume the selectors panicked after the team had returned from a poor showing in New Zealand. Failure was predictable and he made a `pair'. He must have wondered if he would ever have the opportunity to record a Test match run again.

His selection also wiped out his position as one of Zimbabwe's few `one-Test wonders'. The phrase is quite common in England as, with such a large pool of rather mediocre players to choose from, so many players over the years have been chosen for a single Test match and then dumped. This is not so likely to happen to players in Zimbabwe. Our selectors do chop and change frequently, but with a much smaller pool of players to choose from, they tend to return to the same players pretty soon. The only `one-Test' players we have in our records at the moment are Gavin Briant, Iain Butchart, Charlie Lock, Ujesh Ranchod, David Mutendera and Raymond Price, and the last two are recent selections likely to play again.

For most of the others there is a good reason. Gavin Briant, scintillating batsman and brilliant fielder, decided to put a lucrative business career ahead of his cricket and faded out immediately after his Test debut in India in 1992/93. Ujesh Ranchod, probably not in Test class as an off-spinner, played his match on that same tour, but he was in any case only standing in for the first choice Steve Peall, omitted for disciplinary reasons.

The career of Iain Butchart, now convener of selectors, was almost over when Zimbabwe gained Test status and he was no longer a regular choice for the national side. But injuries to others allowed him to make his debut against Pakistan in 1994/95, a small but just reward for years of service when he was Zimbabwe's leading match-winner in tight situations - despite what he may tell you himself! Charlie Lock was more of a one-season wonder, returning from England after several years to take a stack of league wickets in 1995/96, earn himself selection for the Test against South Africa then, and following this with a tour to New Zealand and the World Cup in Asia. He did not play in either of the Tests in New Zealand, but a sudden devastating bowling spell was instrumental in gaining Zimbabwe their only one-day victory on that tour. But business seemed to take over, and the following season he was no longer really in the frame.

DOES SACHIN READ US?

In our last issue I mentioned the comparisons between Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar and mentioned two significant differences - the Don kept the ball on the ground virtually all the time, and he regularly turned centuries into double-centuries. Sachin obviously read my column (!), because in the Nagpur Test he changed his tactics and scarcely lifted the ball off the outfield during the course of his innings. The result? A double-century! Next time I had better refrain from comment until the series is over!

TECHNOLOGY FOR UMPIRES

Also in our last issue I pressed for the further use of technology to help umpires make difficult decisions in Test matches, especially for lbw decisions and close catches. Certain incidents in the Nagpur Test, I feel, served to justify my position.

First of all opening batsman Sunder Das, after reaching his century, was given out caught at slip by Alistair Campbell. The television replay showed that the ball came off his pad, not his bat. My position is that the third umpire should have been able to inform the umpire making the decision of that fact; one article I read recently suggested that, as in tennis, he should have the power to over-rule the umpire in the middle.

We had another decision go the other way, as the camera appeared to show that Rahul Dravid, just before reaching his century, got a fine edge to a ball down the leg side and was caught by Andy Flower. He did not walk and the umpire did not raise his finger. In my opinion, the umpire is less culpable in this incident than the first. It would have taken an umpiring genius to detect the thin edge with certainty in the absence of technology, so the umpire justifiably gave the batsman the benefit of the doubt.

Late in the match Heath Streak also had the benefit of the doubt, sweeping at a delivery and getting a bottom edge on to his pad and thence to the short-leg fielder. Any sympathy that may have been felt for India, although by then the match was virtually safe for Zimbabwe, should have been dispelled by the sight of Indian captain Saurav Ganguly charging towards the umpire to demand the dismissal, in blatant contravention of the new laws of the game - not the first time he has done so. I am waiting to hear if he is to be disciplined in any way. Will the game's authorities back up their own laws?

THIS ISSUE

The main feature of this issue is the UCBSA Bowl matches between the Zimbabwe Board XI and Easterns in Mutare, which I visited over the weekend. Unfortunately, due to the failure of the team manager to keep an appointment with me to lend me the scoresheets, I still do not have the exact details, but we can include interviews with coach Trevor Penney and left-arm spinner Raymond Price for their versions of two successful matches for the Board XI.

The small Mutare cricket community remains as friendly and enthusiastic as ever, and there is every hope that the game will flourish in that part of the country. Certainly their ground, with mountains in the background all around, must surely be the most beautiful in the country, and they have plans to develop their facilities and refurbish and extend their rather elderly pavilion. But it all comes down to finance, and there are strong hopes that the Zimbabwe Cricket Union will release significant funds to them, not only for their facilities but also to build up a staff of professional cricketers in the Manicaland province.

As the school year closes, we have reports from some of the country's leading high schools; all those with significant cricket teams were invited to contribute but many have not troubled to do so. We also have previews of the Under-14 and Under-16 tours to South Africa soon to take place, and we hope to publish results and reports when they are over. Our sincere thanks to all those who have contributed so willingly.

We include an updated biography of Craig Wishart, to follow up our interview with him last week. This week we had planned to catch up on Andy Blignaut, who scored a century last weekend for Alexandra Sports Club in his return to fitness after frequent injuries, but he failed to turn up for the interview.