December and January have been something of a mid-season slump in Zimbabwean cricket. Very little has been taking place inside the country apart from club cricket, and it has been very hard to find much to report on locally. Our apologies for so little current content in this present issue, but I have spent several days chasing up people for articles and interviews, only to find most of them refuse to return phone calls or produce what they had promised. So we are very thin on the ground this time and can only hope that the offenders will come up with the goods in time for next week.

The feeling seems to be that, with the national players away for so long, the remaining players are just marking time. Next month will be a step up, with two Board XI fixtures and the start of the revitalized Logan Cup competition. Then come tours by Bangladesh, India and West Indies, meaning we have virtually non-stop cricket at first-class and international level from February to July.

THRILLER AGAINST WEST INDIES

Thanks to a superb innings by Ricardo Powell, West Indies beat Zimbabwe by just one wicket in our first match of the Carlton and United Series in Australia. It was always anticipated that the exciting matches of the series would be between the two touring teams, and spectators couldn't have wished for anything more thrilling than this.

After winning all three one-day internationals against West Indies in England last year, Zimbabwe had hopes of continuing the sequence in Australia. My guess is that had that match been played a week later, Zimbabwe would have won. Although Australia and New Zealand appear close to each other on the map, conditions are vastly different, and both are different from India, the team's previous port of call. So Zimbabwe were not properly acclimatized in Australia, and it showed in this match, most notably with the catching, as it often does.

We would hope that, in future when Zimbabwe has acclimatized properly, we will have the better of them once again in the three remaining matches. But we cannot be certain, because Zimbabwe are too reliant on too few players at present. Andy Flower and Heath Streak are always potential match-winners, and Alistair Campbell seems to be in fine form at present. But too many of the other players just seem to be playing useful fill-in roles at the moment. They have done well in the past, they have the potential to do well again, but they are currently not performing to that potential. Probably much of it is mental, lack of true self-belief. We need to see more of them putting their hands up, to use common Australian terminology, when the chips are down and fighting their way through to victory.

THE INJURED

Grant Flower is expected to return for the next match, to be played on Sunday, and hopefully he will continue his improved form in the middle order. Opening the batting remains a problem, though, as Trevor Madondo is not really suited to that role in one-day cricket. I still feel that Guy Whittall should be given an extended opportunity, despite the risks involved when he and Alistair Campbell have to run together between wickets! Many will have noticed that Guy is bowling again as his knee has been improving steadily, although it has taken him a while to get among the wickets.

Back home Paul Strang is playing club cricket again and hopes to be playing for the Board XI against North West at the start of February. His injury remains a mystery, but the latest advice is that he should try playing through the pain barrier, should the problem recur. Will he and Brian Murphy be competing for the same place when Bangladesh arrive, or will Zimbabwe do as they did when Adam Huckle first returned from South Africa and build their attack around two leg-spinners, with pitches to match, especially in Bulawayo?

THIS ISSUE

As mentioned above, we have been thwarted in our attempts to obtain much local news and, with so many failures, the outstanding contributions and reliability of Clive Ruffell with the weekly club cricket reports is greatly appreciated. Much of the content is statistical, with Andy Flower's Test and one-day career records, up to the start of the Australian series, examined in detail. We also include updated biographies of Eddo Brandes and Andrew Whittall.

© Cricinfo