3RD MATCH -- ZIMBABWE v WEST INDIES

After playing in Hobart, the Zimbabweans flew north next day to Brisbane via Sydney, where they were required to meet the mighty West Indies the following day, without an adequate break. It was another case of being drawn to face a team with pace bowling strength on a pitch that suited them best, a good batting pitch with more bounce than the Zimbabweans were used to. Rain before the match also meant that the weather was humid and the pitch did give some extra life to the bowlers, but it was not unduly fast by Australian standards. This persuaded Zimbabwe to put the West Indies in to bat on winning the toss.

This was not Zimbabwe's first meeting with Brian Lara, as he had captained the West Indies B team to tour the country two years earlier. Dave Houghton remembers then him as a quiet figure, not very sociable or popular, who simply concentrated on playing. He opened the batting in this match and scored at better than a run a ball, 72 out of 103 scored during his innings. Captain Richie Richardson then shared a 117-run partnership for the third wicket with Carl Hooper at almost equal pace. A couple of early chances were missed, including one from Lara. Kevin Duers remembers watching Lara play and knowing then that he was destined to be a great batsman by the way he hit the ball so effortlessly on the up; the good balls were sent speeding through the covers for four time and again.

The bowlers unfortunately failed to bowl to their fields, with the usually accurate Malcolm Jarvis finding particular difficulty in adjust-ing his left-arm over-the-wicket swing bowling. He found the West Indians tremendously strong on their legs, and everything he pitched straight was whipped through midwicket; when he aimed more to the off, the extra width allowed them to hammer him through the covers. Asking Dave Houghton for advice, he was told to bowl straighter, only to find Brian Lara flicking him over square leg for four.

Keith Arthurton also cashed in, hitting all his boundaries (2 sixes, 2 fours) off Jarvis in a lightning innings, the two sixes into the stands over his head. Jarvis believes that earlier on he had bowled a widish delivery to Arthurton that he lashed at and got a thin edge to the keeper -- the umpire did not notice, though, and called a wide. However, the scorebook does not record a wide against his name.

The Zimbabweans fought back hard and prevented the total from approaching the 300, which at one time had looked possible, by dismissing the middle order quickly when the slog was on. But they bowled well in patches, lacking consistency, apart from Ali Shah who was immaculate throughout at medium-pace.

Zimbabwe began fairly soundly against the opening attack of Patrick Patterson and Malcolm Marshall by taking as many singles as possible, but then fell into trouble. Kevin Arnott was hit on the middle finger of his right hand by Anderson Cummins; he knew straight away that something was wrong and was taken to the hospital where it was found that he had fractured the joint. This injury was to keep him out of several matches. Arnott's Biscuits are a well-known brand in Australia, and Kevin ruefully remembers a comment over the radio to the effect that his fingers crumbled like biscuits -- which is not untrue, he says! He was worried about whether he would be sent home, but The Management decided to allow him to stay on and try to recover. He missed three matches, but spent a lot of time in the gym trying to recover.

Andy Pycroft was also injured, wearing a helmet without a grill, deflecting a ball from Benjamin into his left cheekbone and sustaining a hairline fracture. He too needed to go to hospital; he returned later but was dismissed immediately. He sported a very swollen and bruised eye for some time after that.

Alistair Campbell, making his official one-day debut at the age of 19, had to go in to bat after all this carnage, and actually feels he was playing comfortably and even hitting Patterson and Benjamin firmly, although failing to pierce the field. Then Carl Hooper came on, perhaps an inspired bowling change; Campbell decided to have a crack at him and immediately lofted a catch. He feels he did not do well thrown in thus at the deep end, but he learned a great deal and realised for the first time the high standard demanded of him to succeed at the top level.

The only respite was a fifth-wicket partnership between Dave Houghton and Ali Shah, after four wickets, plus Arnott, had fallen for 63 runs. By then attaining the required run rate was out of the question, with at least eight an over required, and when Shah asked him what plan of action they had, Houghton replied, 'Just do your best and enjoy it.' Shah did so in a more relaxed frame of mind, contented himself with playing each ball on its merits rather than trying to force the pace, which would have been an exercise in futility, and ran up a fluent unbeaten 60. Houghton fell soon after reaching his fifty, though; like Campbell, he had a go at Hooper when he came on to replace the quick bowlers for his second spell and immediately hit the ball down mid-off's throat.

The crowd contained about 50 or so former Zimbabweans now living in the Brisbane area, which was an encouragement to the players. This included former Zimbabwean umpire Bill Symonds.

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