HENRY OLONGA: SECOND TEST, DAY 1

Pace bowler Henry Olonga celebrated his return to the Zimbabwe team by taking two wickets on the first day of the Second Test against New Zealand at Harare Sports Club. Here he talks to John Ward after the day’s play.

JW: Henry, obviously you’re happy to be back.

HO: I *am* happy to be back again, John, and this is a bit of a wake-up call. It’s a rude awakening to spend a full day in the field to get them four down, but I’m not complaining – this is Test cricket, this is as hard as it gets, and I’m glad to be back in the fold. It’s been a long time, it’s been about five months since my last international, so I’m pretty pleased with the way things have gone so far.

JW: Could you briefly review the injury that bothered you in England, and your recovery?

HO: Yes, I tore a tendon in my lower leg – my left leg, my landing leg. The actual muscle is called the peroneus brevis for those who want to know. It was a partial tear, and I tore it right at the place where the tendon turns into muscle. It’s a very common type of injury, especially with explosive sporting activities. I think what happened basically was that I was bowling into footmarks and basically just went over wrong one time. It ached for a while, and I went off, and that was the rest of my season gone! I worked hard, back in Zimbabwe after returning to England and then injuring it again, and took about a month and a half off and worked with Dr Austin Jeanes, the sports medic, and he basically said I just needed to rest it more; three weeks was never going to be enough in the first place. Fortunately it healed; I had aggressive physio, and there was talk at one time of cortisone injections, but I’m glad to say I didn’t have to go that route.

JW: But you weren’t included in the First Test, though.

HO: No, I wasn’t, because I wasn’t fit and I’m probably still not fit now. I bowled a lot of overs today; I bowled 17 but I’m not at peak fitness. I’m not in a position to say I’ll be able to bowl 20 overs in a day. If you’d asked me to bowl 17 overs at the peak of my fitness last season I’d probably still have been pretty tired at the end of the day, so I’m not 100 per cent – but getting there!

JW: I presume today if we had won the toss we’d have batted.

HO: No, unfortunately, John, we’ve got some crazy theories in the side . . .

JW: I’d better not quote you on this, had I?!

HO: (laughs) You could! Basically I think last season every time we batted here we got bowled out for a low score. If you remember, it started off with Australia when we were bowled out for less than 180 when we batted first; there was a bit of moisture in the wicket. And the same thing happened with South Africa: they won the toss, put us in and bowled us out for less than 180. The same thing, I think, happened with Sri Lanka when Zoysa got that hat-trick. I don’t remember how many runs we got, but it couldn’t have been more than 200. So that was three times we batted first and got bowled out for low scores. So logic would have it that the next thing we would do was bowl first, and it just so happened that we lost the toss. If we had won the toss, we would have had the same result as we got today, 226 for four!

It’s a flat wicket, there’s no doubt about that; you know, it’s not a typical Sports Club wicket which goes all over on the first morning – it didn’t. There’s not much grass on it and it’s hard work for bowlers, and for Strangy – we’re not getting as much turn as we did in Bulawayo. We might see that change on the third and fourth days. Maybe positive thinking changes things – I think we should have gone there thinking we want to bat. We’d probably have won the toss and batted!

JW: Did you get any help from the pitch first thing?

HO: Yes, there was a bit of bounce in it. It’s notorious for being a springy kind of wicket, you can get tennis-ball bounce off it, but you know it was easy to negotiate the first hour or so. I got some movement; I bowled a few off-cutters to the left-hander Richardson and that was pretty much it – I don’t think I got much more movement out f it! The new ball’s always going to do something at Sports Club. After that, it’s just hard work!

JW: So overall do you feel fairly happy with the way you bowled?

HO: I’m quite happy with the way I bowled; I reckon I could have bowled a bit tighter. I went for about 60 runs off 17 overs which is roughly about three an over, which is basically what I bowled the whole of last season. I could have bowled a lot tighter and gone for two and a half an over. But, all things being equal, I’m pretty happy I got two wickets on my comeback, and the stage is set for me to get some more wickets tomorrow, if I bowl well, keep the ball in good areas and bowl fast.

JW: Can you describe how you took your wickets?

HO: Well, the first wicket was Craig Spearman, who has just come back into the side after having a nasty gash on his leg jumping over a picket fence in Kwekwe. He had stitches and was struggling to run, but they stuck him in there and I bowled him a bouncer, and he went for it, and I think he gloved it or hit it, I’m not too sure which, and there was a confident appeal and he was given out. I always felt I had a chance with him because I know he’s one of those guys who likes to go after the bowling.

Sinclair is a batsman who has very good hands; he strokes the ball so nicely, but he doesn’t move his feet that well, and that’s been his undoing on many an occasion. I just felt that if I bowled on a decent line, if the ball did a little bit, he might just have a waft and not get to the pitch. He plays a lot through the line, and he got a thick edge to second slip, I think it was, to Carlisle. So it was hard work, John, it was a long day, and at the end of the day I would say I’m pleasantly weary!

JW: How do you think the other bowlers did?

HO: I think the other bowlers bowled pretty nicely. Streaky I think will not remember many days when he’s gone for the whole day without getting a wicket. Syke (Nkala) probably bowled too full to start with, got driven a lot, bowled a lot of half-volleys. Pom was his usual steady self; he bowled nicely, bowled efficiently, economically, going at about two an over. Otherwise, like I said, Strangy and Grant Flower didn’t get much out of the wicket, and the solution to that is maybe they need to bowl with a bit more zip in the air – I don’t know. They were going at about 2 an over, which is not bad bowling in a Test match.

However they’re only four down and they bat a long way down the order. My guess is that these guys would want to bat pretty much of tomorrow, get a big score and bat only once in the match, get us to follow on. That’s how I would play it if I was their captain. However, four of their top-order batsmen are out and the next guys who are coming in can still bat. McMillan I assume might come in next; Parore, Cairns – they bat a long way down and it’s going to be hard work. But if we can nip out a few tomorrow morning, the game can turn around in no time.

JW: In retrospect, is there anything you think might possibly have been done that might have changed things for us?

HO: Yes; in the last session we lost our way a little. I think they got too many runs in that session; I think we could have kept them down to about 200. We bowled a few too many loose balls, but they went after it and all credit to them. They put away the bad ball and we could have been tighter towards the end. Sure, guys were getting tired but that’s the whole essence of Test cricket: you’ve got to be able to maintain your disciplines and standards throughout the day. So in that last session I think we just let things slip a little bit.

JW: Anything else you would like to mention?

HO: Yes, John: I’m going to have a shower, then I’m going to go home and I’m going to have a good night’s sleep tonight! And I’ll see you tomorrow!

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