1ST MATCH -- ZIMBABWE v SRI LANKA

For the third time Zimbabwe began a World Cup programme with a match they either won or should have won. As in the previous tournament in India, this one was a case of 'should have won'.

New Plymouth is a very small ground, situated in a park, with short square boundaries, ideal for high scoring. The Zimbabweans thought it a very beautiful ground, with pyramid terraces built on embankments square with the wicket. Andy Pycroft, though, thinks it smaller than any of the Zimbabwean club grounds, and when he arrived thought it must have been the club's second-team ground as it was so small. The inner ring for fielders was in some places only ten metres from the boundary rope, which meant that big hitting would play an important part. It was a narrow ground, virtually the shape of a rugby field, and the straight boundaries were much longer than the square ones.

The pitch itself was slow and looked likely to take spin; this meant that if the pace bowlers did not find an accurate length they were liable to suffer punishment. In retrospect, Zimbabwe probably should have gone into the match with an extra spinner. The weather on this particular day was quite hot and humid, in contrast to the wet conditions that prevailed during most of Zimbabwe's stay there.

Zimbabwe were put in to bat by Sri Lanka and made the most of it. Had Zimbabwe won the toss, they would have put Sri Lanka in also, as on that small field it was difficult to predict how many runs would be enough. Andy Flower, on his one-day debut, played the anchor role and scored a superb unbeaten century, batting through the innings and showing a very sound technique and equally sound temperament. Nobody could remember his giving a chance.

Andy Flower felt 'really pumped up' and excited as he went in to bat in his first official international match. He took advantage of the short square boundaries, which suited his game, and he frequently moved across his stumps to hit to leg, and hitting over cover and point.

After an opening stand of 30, Andy Pycroft soon fell, caught while trying to hit Anura Gurusinha over the field, while Dave Houghton also fell with the total on 82. Then Kevin Arnott, usually an opening batsman, hit what was for him a remarkably fluent fifty, working the ball around the field and hitting it superbly through the covers off both front and back foot. He placed the ball most skilfully; he says that his sole aim was to give the strike every ball to Flower, who was batting so well and is a very good runner between wickets. Because it was such a small field, he picked up a few boundaries as well.

However it was Andy Waller who really turned the game around and put Zimbabwe into what should have been a winning position. His team-mates all testify to this as a truly remarkable innings, and the Sri Lankans themselves remembered it vividly years later. Officially he reached a fifty off 32 balls and altogether 83 off 45, but it might in fact have been even more remarkable. Flower and Arnott added 85 in 66 minutes, and Flower and Waller 145, officially at least, in only 57 minutes. To this day Waller remembers this innings as his greatest batting memory.

The former English scorer Geoffrey Saulez, who was at that ground as a spectator, is convinced that during Waller's devastating innings the inexperienced local New Zealand scorers lost their grip on what was happening, and that Zimbabwe actually scored 20 or 30 more runs than were eventually recorded. This was despite Waller's hitting at least two balls so far out of the ground that replacements had to be found; these would have been sixes on grounds of any size. Iain Butchart and Andy Pycroft also had that impression; on the other hand, Dave Houghton, Dave Ellman-Brown and Kevin Arnott are inclined to think not. The truth is not likely to be uncovered as this match was unfortunately not televised.

If Zimbabwe felt they had won the game already, they were soon disillusioned. Sri Lanka began their reply at a terrific pace, largely due to 'Big Sam' -- Athula Samarasekera. He had been a major scourge of Zimbabwe's bowlers in a Sri Lanka A tour a few years earlier, and now he continued where he left off, dominating the bowlers from the start. Their 128-run partnership came at almost a run a ball. Eddo Brandes in particular and Malcolm Jarvis, who opened the bowling, did not bowl very well, and this gave the Sri Lankan openers the encouragement they needed. 'Big Sam' was finally caught at long-off off John Traicos, whose eventual typically economical figures were in sharp contrast to the sufferings of the other bowlers. He bowled superbly, but received little support.

The Zimbabweans had expected an aggressive Sri Lankan reply, but had not expected them to get away with it, and such a start quite took the wind out of their sails. The bowlers were probably not fully acclimatised and were uncertain of the best length to bowl on that pitch -- Eddo Brandes feels that he for one let the side down. All the pace bowlers were rather disappointing, perhaps tending to freeze in the face of this unexpected assault, and either bowling too full or too short a length. Jarvis did at least bowl a much better spell when he returned later in the innings. Traicos might well have been brought on earlier, instead of as third change. He also took a low catch off Samarasekera earlier in the innings, but the umpires had declined to give the batsman out. Flower was so angry that he came down the pitch to protest, but the team managed to smooth it over before any damage was done. The batsman was out very soon afterwards, though.

After this Zimbabwe began to erode the Sri Lankan batting steadily, and nine runs an over were needed off the last 15 overs. But then captain Arjuna Ranatunga played a superb stabilising innings. Although scoring at more than a run a ball, he never needed to resort to slogging; he placed his shots well, especially down to fine leg and third man, and kept the score moving at the required rate. He did play one false shot, an attempted sweep lobbing off the top edge and just clearing the wicket-keeper. Kevin Duers says that, no matter where the bowlers put the ball, he always seemed to be able to put it away and find the gaps. He shared a good partnership with Sanath Jayasuriya, batting in the middle order in those days.

Dave Houghton, in an inspired decision, tried to make something happen by bringing himself on to bowl with his rarely-seen high floating 'water-bombs', and almost immediately had Jayasuriya trying to sweep and lobbing a catch for the wicket-keeper to take. Unfortunately the inspiration went no further, as he decided to try a second over, in which he conceded 13 or 14 runs. After that the later batsmen stayed in with Ranatunga and played valuable supporting roles.

Sir Richard Hadlee was present at the game as Man of the Match adjudicator, and some of the Zimbabweans talked to him after the match, asking him a few questions about where they had gone wrong. They were most impressed with his humility and character, a man who despite his success and knighthood had not tried to make himself greater than the game. He passed on some good ideas and training methods, and diplomatically expressed his thoughts that some bowlers had bowled the wrong line to certain batsmen and gave some advice on how to pull back when the opposition got off to a flying start as Sri Lanka did. 

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