Who would have imagined that our national side would be leading the one-day series - against India in India, of all places - by two victories to one? It seems almost unbelievable, and their victory in the third match of the series was most convincing.

It must be admitted that India were without their best batsman and bowler, in Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble, respectively, as both are nursing niggling injuries in the effort to get fully fit for their coming tour of West Indies. Their absence would certainly have given Zimbabwe a great psychological boost, and we may well not have won the first match, at least, had either or both been present. It also appeared that India in this series have at times been suffering from overconfidence and have not played with the necessary discipline.

Having said that, our most recent victory was won without Andy Flower, resting a thigh injury - the first official international match we have won without him since we beat Australia in the World Cup of 1983, if we want to check the records! The series has also come at a time when we would expect the team to feel distracted by the controversial elections going on back home, where their families were. In view of the results announced by the government, several of the players may well be thinking over their futures.

And we did play with the discipline that India lacked, if we overlook the 14 wides bowled in the third match. We can now begin to suspect, with guarded optimism, that Geoff Marsh's influence is beginning to pay off and the revival of spirit on a more regular basis is returning. One victory in the next two matches would see us win the series, an almost inconceivable thought, and on past experience that pressure may well be too much for our players to handle easily. But even if they are up to it mentally, the odds are still against them, because India have vast resources of talent and they will take the last two matches very, very seriously. Unless, in fact, their nerve has been broken, which would be a surprising state of affairs.

It was great also to see two newcomers to the side play such a significant part in our victory. Pommie Mbangwa was playing his first international match for well over a year, and as usual bowled his accurate medium-paced line and length, a style which is at its most effective when the opening bowlers have made an initial breakthrough. And this had indeed been the case, the hero and Man of the Match being Douglas Hondo.

Douggie has played one Test and one one-day international before, but on both occasions looked totally unready for it, pushed into international cricket by over-enthusiastic selectors. He had the talent, but it was still too raw. He has spent most of the past season playing club cricket in Australia, and we have published a couple of good reports in ZCO about his progress. On Wednesday's showing he looked an unrecognizably better bowler.

We have had players in the past who have surprised us with a remarkably good performance and then lapsed into anonymity again, but a first time always shows that the ability really is there and gives rise for hope.

In this issue we are able to include some more articles by Trishna Bose on Zimbabwe in India, and also the updating of records. We have the new set of records for Zimbabwe v India in Test cricket and also the detailed Test career records of all the Zimbabwean players who took part in the recent Test series. Included also are biographies for three of the Academy players: Andre Hoffman, Innocent Chinyoka and Jordane Nicolle.

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