ZIMBABWE v NEW ZEALAND - FINAL REPORT

by John Ward 9.10.97

Two drawn series -- five years ago, when New Zealand first toured this country, Zimbabwe would have been quite happy to settle for that. In our disappointment at failing to beat a New Zealand team which was quite clearly less talented than our own, we need to reflect on how much we have progressed in that time.

In those early days immediately after gaining Test status, a draw against any opposition was a major bonus. Zimbabwe achieved that in the Bulawayo Test, thanks to rain and a century from Kevin Arnott. But we lost the Harare Test, and also both one-day internationals, and it was clear that most of our bowlers were little more than cannon-fodder for the likes of Martin Crowe and Mark Greatbatch.

This time, we are demanding reasons for our failure to win, and that in itself shows how much our cricket has improved. There are several reasons for this, as outlined last week. Had we played New Zealand later in the season, we would probably have won. As it is, we do play them again in February and March, but then they will have the advantage of playing at home.

At least last weekend provided two good one-day matches for the spectators, who almost filled the Harare Sports Club ground. They were played on different pitches, with the ball coming on to the bat more readily on the Sunday pitch than on Saturday's. New Zealand won the toss and batted on both occasions; quite possibly their good fortune on Sunday saved them the series.

Zimbabwe always looked likely to win on Saturday, as New Zealand struggled to reach 185 for seven in 50 overs. Once again the tourists' lower batting showed up the failures of the top order, but this time they were unable to score quickly enough to give themselves what appeared at the time to be a reasonable chance of victory.

However, the match was turned into a thriller by some remarkably injudicious batting from most of Zimbabwe's top order. One after another threw his wicket away with a bad stroke. What a relief that we had two batsmen who put their heads down and played exactly the right innings for the situation. Gavin Rennie taught his more experienced seniors a lesson with his perfectly-judged innings of 72.

It should surprise nobody that the other was the captain Alistair Campbell. It is taking Campbell a long time to live down his reputation as a `waster', and it is true that he still does not score the runs he should when the bowling is ripe for plucking. But give him a tough situation and, as he showed often enough last season, he is the ideal man for the job. As he played himself in carefully on the Saturday afternoon, it was quite evident that he had every intention of being there at the finish -- and so he was. Three giant straight sixes in the middle of his innings did not tempt him to drop his vigilance for a moment. Every single ball was played on its merits, and no captain's innings could have more perfectly fitted that description.

Both batsmen would have thoroughly deserved the Man of the Match award, but adjudicator Iain Butchart surprisingly chose to give it to Paul Strang, who had certainly bowled superbly to return figures of 10-1-13-1. Perhaps Mr Butchart underestimated the type of vital innings that he himself was so good at, or perhaps he found it so difficult to split Rennie and Campbell that he decided to look for another option! In truth, all three deserved the award.

On the Sunday, however, New Zealand finally put it all together. It was ironic that it was not until the final match of the tour that they found their best form, but Zimbabwe never did. Winning the toss was a great advantage to the tourists on a fine batting pitch, as they were able to enjoy an excellent start by their revamped batting order. Chris Cairns opened the batting as a pinch-hitter, with the intention of hitting over the top during the first fifteen overs when only two fielders are allowed outside the circle. He was not at his best, but his 71 was a valuable innings.

Nathan Astle, opening with him, did a good job as well, but the turning point of the match was probably when captain Stephen Fleming was yet to score. He appeared, on the television replay, to edge a ball to wicket-keeper Andy Flower, but was given the benefit of the doubt by the umpire. Umpires can hardly be blamed for such errors should they make them, as at normal speed the deflection was virtually invisible and any sound would be drowned out by the crowd. The way Fleming whipped his head round to follow the ball seemed to indicate he knew he had hit it, but that is circumstantial evidence. In the old days, such decisions by umpires were impossible to verify; nowadays, with the all-seeing eye of television, the umpire himself is the last to know he has blown it. Being proved wrong by television can do nothing for an umpire's confidence and is likely to lead to more mistakes.

In such a situation, there is obviously a strong case for allowing the third umpire to advise on all types of decisions, but there are problems here as well. Apart from anything else, it still takes too long a time for technology to enable the third umpire to give his verdict. It would also reduce the umpires to little more than hat-stands out in the middle. But it is clearly unsatisfactory for umpiring mistakes to be shown so clearly to the general public -- yet banning public replays would be quite unacceptable both to the public and the television companies. No reasonable solution seems to exist, although it would obviously help were the International Cricket Council to take a sterner line against players pressurising the umpires.

Fleming therefore survived to play an important innings of 62; had he been given out, the whole course of the match might have been different. Craig McMillan, who did not play in the Tests, batted very well for his 66, and New Zealand's total was a monumental 294 for seven.

Zimbabwe did make a good effort to reach the target. New Zealand's bowling never appeared threatening, but their fielding was superb. In their desperation to keep up with a scoring rate of almost six an over, four Zimbabweans ran themselves out. Two of the run-outs were to Chris Harris, who throughout the tour has been the best of the New Zealand fielders. The fact that he should claim two victims in the final match seemed to show that some Zimbabweans were not learning their lessons as quickly as they should. Alistair Campbell looked ready to play another innings of great determination, only to be run out by his partner through sheer bad calling. This was virtually the end of Zimbabwe's hopes.

The more we play, the more we learn. Success is a long time coming, we are still looking for our first series win, but we are competing strongly. Our national side will hang in there, and in the end success will be theirs.