Heath Streak talks to John Ward about the recently concluded tour of Zimbabwe by New Zealand on the eve of his team’s departure for the ICC Knockout Tournament in Kenya.

JW: Heath, what are your overall views on the New Zealand tour, after a poor start and great improvement by Zimbabwe?

HS: Obviously a disappointing start, but we went in with a slightly imbalanced side I thought in the First Test, with Guy Whittall standing down at the last minute. I think it would have made a big difference if we had had him, but it wasn’t to be. The Second Test we nearly saved after batting pretty dismally in the first innings. But the guys took a bit of inspiration from Guy’s innings, and also a few of the others like Andy [Flower] chipping in certainly helped the spirits.

We didn’t play well in our first one-day international but I think we picked it up pretty well over the weekend [in Bulawayo]. We had a good long chat and addressed the problems we had, and I thought the guys responded well. Alistair Campbell had a fantastic two innings and the guys all chipped in: Grant [Flower] on the first day; a cameo innings by Andy in the last one-day international. It was nice to show a bit of fighting spirit and come back from behind. It shows the guys have the ability, and it’s what I said all along. Obviously without Murray [Goodwin] and Neil [Johnson] it is a blow, but there’s no reason why we can’t win, and win in the fashion we have this series.

JW: Who else in the Zimbabwe team put up performances we can be particularly happy about?

HS: I thought in the Tests we had some pretty decent bowling performances. Henry [Olonga] I thought was fantastic; Paul [Strang] was brilliant in the First Test – to come back from injury and bowl as much as he did, and hopefully he can carry on for us. Alistair again was in form, and I obviously enjoyed my own innings! Guy’s 180 in Harare was an excellent innings, up there with some of the best centuries – nearly a double century – you can get in Test cricket. Although Andy didn’t carry through and make a hundred, I thought he batted fantastically in the series. The other guys were pretty supportive: Pom [Mbangwa] in the Second Test did a good job and held up an end, and in the circumstances it was pretty trying.

JW: And the younger players trying to establish themselves in the side?

HS: Obviously ‘Syke’ Nkala is very promising, a bit sporadic with his performances but he’s been plagued with quite a bad foot injury, and I think that’s played a small part in his bowling performances. But I think there’s a lot of potential coming out of him. Brilliant to find some new talent in Doug Marillier. I thought his performances were excellent, and I think Travis Friend is going to be a genuinely quick bowler for us who will hopefully balance our strike attack in the future, especially in the Test arena.

JW: Do you know why Doug isn’t in the team to Kenya?

HS: The organizers for the tournament required a squad to be announced prior to this one-day series against New Zealand, so unfortunately it was selected prior to that, and we can only replace guys due to injuries.

JW: You can always belt somebody over the head if necessary!

HS: Maybe a kick in the ankle might do it!

JW: What is the injury situation at the moment?

HS: Henry [Olonga] has come back from injury; he’s passed a fitness test with our physio and the selectors, so he’s fine. But nothing major at this stage for the tournament, other than Andy Blignaut, who unfortunately is still coming back from a back injury. He’s been advised to take it easy into bowling because he’s had a stress fracture. You see the likes of Dion Nash and Dan Vettori, and you’ve got to be so careful with those sort of injuries.

JW: Who are the leading New Zealand players you had to look out for?

HS: Obviously Cairns was a big player as an all-rounder. They’ve got some good batsmen, and I think Spearman showed it in the one-day tournament how good a quality player he is, although he didn’t play in the First Test. Horne has been a tough customer who gets stuck in; McMillan has made hundreds and we knew he was always a danger, but we felt we always had a chance with him with our spin. Then there are steady performers with guys like Fleming and their middle-order batters. Richardson came in and put in a very professional performance in the Harare Test, so they’ve got a good batting unit, and they bat right down to the end, so it’s pretty difficult.

Their bowling was steady: Cairns led the attack in Harare, but Shayne O’Connor I thought bowled superbly. He was very tight and kept the pressure on. In Bulawayo the spinners Vettori and Wiseman bowled superbly, and I thought their use of their bowlers was brilliant. They bowled to a definite plan; they had plans for all our batters and they stuck to them. I think that was the reason for their success.

JW: Do you feel you managed to neutralize any of their top players particularly during the tour?

HS: Towards the end of the tour, and in particular the one-day series, we did work out a few of them and we worked out where to bowl to them and where their strengths and weaknesses were, especially against the spin attack. I think we did do a good job, but it took us a bit of time to cotton on to that, and maybe we can learn a lot quicker next time round.

JW: Any young New Zealand players you can rate as particular promising for the future?

HS: That’s difficult; they’re a pretty settled side and I haven’t seen much of their young players on this tour. They’ve got Tuffey and Wiseman who have played a bit; they’ve a couple of new bowlers like Styrus. They look good but they’re still raw. I think they’ll come through. Styrus looks a pretty sharp bowler, and I think when he gets his consistency going he’ll be a pretty useful customer. He has good pace variations and I think he’ll do well in the one-day game. I think they’ve some good youngsters coming through on the batting side, but I haven’t seen much of them; the guys who have put in the performances are the guys we’ve played against before. But they obviously have a good coaching structure and a good tour management; they’re very professional, and have their physio and their bio- kinetics guy, their coach and manager – a good professional touring unit and a good standard of first-class cricket in New Zealand, and in their Academy. So I think they’ve developed and come on in leaps and bounds in their country.

JW: How would you compare them in strength and attitude to other Test-playing countries?

HS: I think they’re improved substantially. They’re very hard customers on the field; they fight hard and they definitely have a lot of spirit and courage out there, which is what you need. Many of them are very tough mentally, which is what you need to be, especially at Test level.

JW: What were they like as people, both on and off the field?

HS: They play hard on the field; they’re out there definitely to win and they’re quite a vocal side, but off the field we all got on extremely well with them. They’re very friendly and we certainly don’t have any problems with any of them. Off field we’ve a good relationship and we socialize quite a bit with them; they’re a nice bunch of guys.

JW: Any real characters in their team you can talk about?

HS: A few of them; I have certainly got on pretty well with Shayne O’Connor as we have very similar interests in that he’s from a farming background and enjoys his hunting, so I got on well with him, and with Cairnsy. We’ve played together in a World Zimbabwe game and so we’ve gotten quite friendly. I’ve also got to know a few of the others well: Stephen Fleming, Adam Parore and others. They’re a good bunch of guys and I get on well with them.

JW: Are you looking forward to playing New Zealand again particularly in the ICC Knockout next Monday, or would you have preferred different opponents?

HS: No, I think coming out of this series where we’ve won two matches, we’ll have a bit of confidence, and they’ll hopefully be a little bit worried about us. But we’ll still have to go out there and play extremely well. They’re a brilliant one-day side and they’ll have a couple of their players back. Chris Harris wasn’t fully fit and they’ll have Cairns back in their side, so they’ll be a stronger unit and we’re looking forward to the contest. If we can beat them, there’s no reason why we can’t progress further in the tournament. They’re definitely up there with the top sides, in the top half of the one-day international teams.

JW: What’s the programme for Zimbabwe after Kenya?

HS: We come back for a few days, then we’re off to Sharjah for a triangular series against India and Sri Lanka. Then we come back for another week and then we go to India for a Test and one-day series. This takes us through to Christmas, and off to New Zealand for a Test and three one-dayers, and then straight from New Zealand to Australia for the World Series, which takes us through to mid-February. Then I think there’s about a six-week break, then there could be a tour in April, but in May and June we have India and the West Indies touring in our winter for a change.

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