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ZIMBABWE CRICKET ONLINE
Editor: John Ward
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Issue 17, March 24 2000
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EDITORIAL
By John
Ward
Overshadowing all other cricket news in Zimbabwe this past week
has been the sad story of how Zimbabwe threw away their golden
opportunity to beat the West Indies in the first Test match ever
played between the two teams. A mere 99 runs were needed to win,
but the team choked on the final corner and crashed for a total
of less than 100 for the first time in Test cricket.
I was not one of those who thought victory was assured; I have
suffered too many past disappointments in matches where victory
looked assured to take anything for granted. I knew that Ambrose
and Walsh would be fired up and that it would be a very difficult
task; if Andy Flower failed this time, I had very real fears for
the team. Unfortunately that was just how it turned out; once
again they cracked under pressure.
[More |
Zimbabwe in the West Indies]
GUEST COLUMN
Zimbabwe's young hopefuls
Robin Mence, who lives in England, is a keen observer of
Zimbabwean cricket who actively keeps himself abreast of cricket
news and statistics from this country at all levels. Here he
pens some of his thoughts, especially on Zimbabwe's young hopefuls.
The Zimbabwe cricket selectors have on times this season been
criticised for not giving younger players a chance, albeit
without there being any evidence that there were promising
cricketers available with a proven track record who, it could be
expected, would perform better than those they would replace. So
why should this be? Has Zimbabwe stopped producing young players
of talent? This article, hopefully, goes some way to pinpoint
the lack of a substantial first-class cricket structure during
the late 1990s as being the reason for a missing 'generation' of
cricketers.
[More]
BIOGRAPHY Dan Peacock
Dan Peacock is a promising young cricketer who, it is hoped, may
develop into what seems to be a rarity in modern cricket: a
spin-bowling all-rounder. He is primarily an off-spinner, but is
also a very capable batsman who has ambitions to bat in the top
six.
Dan was born in Reading, Berkshire, in England, of a Zimbabwean
mother and an English father who played Minor Counties cricket.
At the age of two Dan and his family moved to Rhodesia, as it
then was, despite the war-torn situation of the country in the
late seventies, due to the difficulty his father was finding in
getting suitable employment in England. Dan also has a younger
brother Tom, who played cricket at school, including
inter-provincial at Under-13 and Under-15 levels, but later gave
it up. They played a lot of family cricket together, with
friends often included, and Dan pays tribute to his father, who
taught him the basics of the game when he was five years old,
constructing a net, bowling to him and teaching him the basics of
his bowling style.
[More]
Kingsley Went
Kingsley Went, who lives in Mutare and plays for Manicaland, is
one of the 2000 students at the CFX Academy. He is a promising
top-order batsman and wicket-keeper.
Despite being born in Harare, Kingsley has lived all his life in
Mutare, although his mother came to Harare briefly for his birth
to be sure of the best available medical facilities. He comes
from pioneer stock, one of his ancestors being the well-known
Kingsley Fairbridge, to whom there is a memorial in the city of
Mutare. Remarkably he has no family background in cricket, but
began to develop an interest in the game at Hillcrest Primary
School. His love for cricket and ability in the game grew slowly
but surely, until by the end of his schooldays he decided that he
enjoyed playing so much that if he had the talent he would love
to play professionally.
[More]
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NEWS
As we go to press Zimbabwe will be trying to bounce back from their morale
destroying final day loss to the West Indies. CricInfo will have live coverage as usual.
The Logan Cup has completed its third round, with Midlands completeing a historic win over
Matabeleland, and Manicaland drawing with Mashonaland
[Zimbabwe in the West Indies |
Logan Cup]
INTERNATIONAL
Alistair Campbell is currently touring the West Indies with the Zimbabwe
team. He will be supplying us regular
installments from his tour diary, with his impressions of Zimbabwe's
first tour of the Caribbean.
Here we include excerpts describing the first 4 days of the gripping first Test.
March 17: Everything to play for after two days
Well, it's the end of a very long second day, about seven and
half hours of Test cricket in all. A slow over rate from the West
Indians added to a day already lengthened as a result of the play
lost on the first day. However, for the Test cricket enthusiast
it was a thoroughly enthralling day of cricket, as has the Test
been thus far.
Day one started in the perfect manner, with Andy Flower winning
the toss and putting them in on a wicket that had a tinge of
green to it. Heath Streak confirmed the captain's decision with a
wicket with his third ball, Griffiths lbw for 0. The ball was
nipping around a bit and the bowlers got it in the right areas.
However, countless play and misses and a dropped catch later, we
managed to get our second wicket through a run out. The ball was
pushed into the covers and Brian Murphy charged after it, threw
it to the bowler on the swivel and Neil Johnson obliged by taking
the bails off (the ball only nicked the leg stump as he had to
underarm it some two metres) and Gayle was out for 33.
[More]
March 19: A chance to make history:
Well, it's the end of day four and what a Test match it is
turning out to be. At the end of my last report I alluded to the
fact that day three would be a very pivotal day in this Test
match. We needed to bat with the same resolve that Gripper and
Flower had shown and try and get a first innings lead.
Walsh and Ambrose again did the bulk of the bowling, and again
were outstanding and a little unfortunate. Andy Flower edged
Walsh to third slip in the first over of the day and Chanderpaul
put the chance down. We were moving along comfortably enough when
the rain came down again, which it has done at regular intervals
all through this Test. When play commenced again Andy Flower had
another piece of good fortune when he edged Ambrose to first slip
where Gayle spilled the chance. Batting was extremely difficult,
as the ball was reverse-swinging and keeping low. Mixed in with
this, Ambrose and Walsh bowling superbly, you couldn't help get
the feeling that something was going to happen.
[More]
[Complete diary]
LETTERS
Comments on the West Indies tour, Tatenda
Taibu, greetings from round the world and more.
[Your letters | Contact us]
DOMESTIC CRICKET
THE VIGNE CUP
The Vigne Cup came to a conclusion last week in Harare. Clive Ruffell reports
5 March: Most sides were missing star players due to the Logan Cup matches
played over the same weekend, and also to the national squad
touring the West Indies. This week's Vigne Cup matches were all
low-scoring affairs, perhaps due to slow outfields. Winstonians
stole the limelight with a significant first victory in the
league, and Harare Sports Club put on their worst performance in
many a game against Alexandra. National League champions Old
Hararians suffered their second defeat of the season against
Universals and their hopes of performing the
double by winning both the national league and the Vigne Cup were
badly dented. It was the first win in the Vigne Cup this season for Universals,
12 March: Rain and waterlogged pitches prevented any play in all but one of
the Vigne Cup matches in the penultimate round of the
competition. However, conditions at Alexandra Sports Club were
deemed good enough for play in a top of the table clash between
national league champions Old Hararians, and Alexandra, currently
leading the Vigne Cup table. Fortunately, a result was possible in this crucial Vigne Cup
match, albeit with assistance from the dreaded Duckworth-Lewis
method. A revised target was reached by OH with 4 balls to spare.
19 Mar: As was the case last week, only one Vigne Cup match was possible
this week due to waterlogged grounds, in a disappointing end to
the season.
In a match of no consequence to the final log standings, HSC
ended their season in disappointing fashion as they went down to
the National League champions in the final round of the Vigne Cup
competition on Sunday. With the Alexandra v Old Georgians match
abandoned due to unsuitable playing conditions at Groombridge,
the five points awarded each team ensured Alex the title.
[Reports and Scorecards]
Picture of the Week
Henry Olonga meets the British high Commissioner
and CricInfo's CEO, Simon King
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