ZIMBABWE IN THE 1995/96 WORLD CUP -- OVERVIEW

This unfortunately was not the case, and it actually proved to be the most disappointing of Zimbabwe's four World Cup tournaments to date. The team did win one match, but that was only against associate member Kenya, who actually caused them some embarrassment before the match was washed out and Zimbabwe performed better in the replay. Zimbabwe's four matches against Test-playing opposition were very disappointing and not one of the results was even close. They were certainly placed in what turned out to be the stronger of the two sections, though, as all four of the eventual semi-finalists were in their group.

It is hard for the players involved to explain exactly what went wrong. Perhaps it was a combination of several factors. Initially, lack of confidence was not one of them, as the team had just come from a one-day victory in New Zealand (although losing the series 2-1), and they felt capable of beating some of the Test teams in this World Cup.

For a start, they were not fresh, having just completed a gruelling tour of New Zealand. They were unable to have a break they badly needed between the two, and they played no significant warm-up matches in India to help them become accustomed to the completely different conditions. The constant heat and humidity in particular they found it impossible to get used to. The two tours together made it the longest time the team had ever been away from home; they were playing under high pressure for most of the time and many of the players were feeling exhausted well before the end of the World Cup.

Their captain Andy Flower was in his third season of combining his job with that of leading batsman and wicket-keeper, which he had done successfully up until now, but at this stage was really feeling the strain; a few months later he not surprisingly resigned as captain. He did not get full support on tour from some of the players, and team morale was not as high as is normally the case with Zimbabwean sides.

A major blow was the loss of their most experienced batsman Dave Houghton, who broke a toe while scoring a century in a Test match in New Zealand. The break was bad enough for him to miss the tour; a brilliant player of spin bowling, the team could ill afford his loss. The batting in particular let the side down, with only two fifties being scored in the six matches; even Holland managed three and Kenya four. The side had particular difficulty in establishing long partnerships, and would frequently lose momentum by losing two or three wickets in quick succession. Several changes in the batting order made no difference and only hampered continuity.

The absence of Houghton was too great a blow for a very young side to handle. Despite the fact that they were now playing full international cricket regularly, few players had been in the game for long and only Eddo Brandes, Andy Waller and Alistair Campbell besides the captain had played in the previous World Cup tournament. Only Waller and Brandes were aged over 30. Andy Flower feels that in his young team many of the batsmen had yet to sort out their game at international level, and the loss of Houghton severely damaged their own confidence. And once the team had got into a losing streak, the problem snowballed and they were unable to break out of it.

India is never the best place for players to stay fit, and a strained muscle resulted in the loss of Brandes after only two matches. There were as usual a number of instances of players suffering illness. The grounds were usually in good condition, but Campbell asks, "Have you ever seen an Indian dive when fielding?" They don't, as the outfields are so hard, bumpy and dusty.

From their arrival in Bombay, the team travelled to Calcutta for the opening ceremony. This was a grand affair, with more than 80,000 people in the Eden Gardens stadium, but it was spoilt somewhat by the weather, which was unfortunately very windy. There was to be a show with lasers that fell on to curtains, but the wind blew the curtains about so much that this was quite ruined. The players found it an enjoyable evening on the whole, although organisation here could have been better; the organisers managed to mix up some of the names of the countries and the players, which caused some embarrassment and amusement. They found the concluding fireworks display most impressive.

Andy Flower feels, though, that they were not treated very well in Calcutta as a team. The leading Test nations were all accommodated in five-star hotels, but the feeling seemed to be that the newcomers like Zimbabwe did not warrant such grand treatment and they were put in a much inferior hotel. The three ICC teams, Holland, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates, all received similar treatment. They had to spend several days there, and unlike the top teams they were not allowed proper practice facilities but had to use an Indian maidan if they wanted any exercise. The liaison officer seemed rather embarrassed by the situation and tried to appease them by taking them to dinner in a top hotel. There was so much red tape and bureaucracy that they could not get any satisfactory answer to their complaints, or even find a person to admit responsibility, when they queried their situation.

They then had to rise in the small hours of the following morning to travel via Delhi to Hyderabad for their first match of the programme, against West Indies. They had only a couple of practice games to help them acclimatise, making up numbers with useful and enthusiastic players from local leagues -- far from ideal preparation. They had a very low-key match in Bombay against a local rubber factory, in which they arranged for some of the players, including Andy Flower, to turn out for the opposition so they all got a game. The Zimbabwean team batted badly and were beaten, but they did not take it very seriously. Flower and a certain Vangipurappu Laxman made most runs for the opposition.

Despite this, however, most of the players felt that the tournament was generally well organised, despite reports to the contrary, notably in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. They accepted there was a lot of travelling to be done, although they naturally found it tiring. They did, however, find it frustrating to have to spend most of their spare time restricted to their hotels, as security was very strict and they were unable to go outside much. Paul Strang paid tribute to the attitude of all involved, though, saying that they did their best at all times to make it as easy as possible for them under the circumstances.

Craig Evans feels differently, though, and talks about how they were shifted about all over India like sheep. After a match they were rushed back to the hotel with tight security, and often had to rise at about four the following morning to fly off to their next venue, a sacrifice not demanded of the senior Test-playing nations. He felt that these teams were definitely given favoured status and better arrangements throughout the tour, while Zimbabwe had to fit in and put up with much more incovenience.

Probably the major bonus from the tour was the emergence of Paul Strang as a leg-spinner of genuine world class. He began by taking four wickets against the mighty West Indies, soon followed by five against the hapless Kenyans, and only in the match against India did he fail to impress. In fact, he finished the tournament with an average of 16, the best by any bowler with ten or more wickets, and actually took more than half (12 out of 23) the wickets falling to Zimbabwean bowlers during the tournament.

No other Zimbabwean took even five wickets, although Streak, once he had settled, bowled very well and gave little away, but with little luck. He realised that on the lifeless Indian pitches his main job was simply to contain and keep up the pressure on the batsmen, and he did that best of all the team. "If you could go for under 40 in your ten-over spell, you were doing a really good job," he said. Bryan Strang gave him perhaps the most support among the pace bowlers, but he did not have the opportunities he perhaps deserved. The Zimbabweans maintained their high standard of fielding, although on occasions some important catches were missed.

No captain could have tried harder than Andy Flower, and the lack of success, together with his own loss of batting form, caused him to feel increasingly depressed as the tour progressed; a couple of months later he resigned the captaincy. Eddo Brandes, as vice-captain, remembers going to see him in the evenings on a couple of occasions to try to encourage him. He did win the toss in all six matches, but it did his side little good.

Heath Streak found him a good listener, always willing to listen to his players and ready to explain his decisions whenever there was a disagreement or query. Craig Evans paid tribute to his excellent cricket brain. His one weakness was perhaps that as a highly competitive player he tended to become too intense, and was liable to show his frustration when his players made mistakes.

The team was captained by 'Babu' Meman, of Indian descent himself and a member of the previous World Cup team to play in India eight years earlier. He did a quiet efficient job and his ability to communicate with the local officials was obviously an advantage.

Few interesting incidents or stories came out of this tour; it was one the players wanted to forget. They had few opportunities to meet the opposition off the field, as there was so much travelling and teams tended to keep to themselves. As always, they found the Indian cricket-followers fanatical, with encyclopedic knowledge of all the players, and large crowds wherever they went, even at their match against Kenya, which in most other countries would be thought of minimal attraction. Andy Flower for one appreciates the fanatical interest in the game there, and says, in opposition to the views of players from many other countries, "We were lucky to have the opportunity to play there."

For further comments on the players' views of India, see the overview for the World Cup of 1987/88.

MATCH SUMMARY

16 Feb    Hyderabad           Lost to West Indies by six wickets
21 Feb    Colombo             Lost to Sri Lanka by six wickets
26 Feb    Patna               No result v Kenya
27 Feb    Patna (replay)      Beat Kenya by five wickets
1 Mar     Nagpur              Lost to Australia by eight wickets
6 Mar     Kanpur              Lost to India by 40 runs



BATTING AND FIELDING STATISTICS

                    M   I  NO  Runs   HS     Av.   100  50   Ct/St
P A Strang          6   4   3    52   22*   52.00    -   -    1
C N Evans           6   5   2    92   39*   30.66    -   -    -
G W Flower          6   6   1   150   45    30.00    -   -    3
A C Waller          6   6   0   162   67    27.00    -   1    -
H H Streak          6   5   1    80   30    20.00    -   -    1
A D R Campbell      6   6   0   114   75    19.00    -   1    5
G J Whittall        6   6   0    83   35    13.83    -   -    -
A Flower            6   6   1    51   28    10.20    -   -    -/1
S G Davies          1   1   0     9    9     9.00    -   -    -
A C I Lock          6   3   2     8    5     8.00    -   -    -
E A Brandes         2   1   0     7    7     7.00    -   -    -
S G Peall           5   2   0     9    9     4.50    -   -    1
B C Strang          4   2   0     3    3     1.50    -   -    2


BOWLING STATISTICS

                   Overs Mdns Runs Wkts   Av.     Best   4wI
P A Strang          42.1   4   192  12   16.00    5/21    2
B C Strang          18     1    66   3   22.00    2/24    -
H H Streak          44     8   175   4   43.75    3/60    -
A C I Lock          32     3   141   3   47.00    2/57    -
S G Peall           23     1   101   1  101.00    1/23    -
E A Brandes         15     0    77   0     --      --     -
G J Whittall        14     0    79   0     --      --     -
G W Flower          11     1    54   0     --      --     -
A D R Campbell       3     0    13   0     --      --     -

     Note: H K Olonga was also in the squad but did not play a match.