Khalid Vayani (London)

I have read your weekly magazine and it's quite impressive. Also found that there is a player Brian Murphy who is lost to Zimbabwe cricket for at least 3 more years.

Is it not possible for the board to do something to get players like Brian Murphy, Darlington Matambanadzo and David Brain to come back to cricket and help the national side out. I am sure they will put country before other commitments as long as the board can offer them financial security.

I was just talking to my friend that if Hick, Elworthy, Dale Benkenstein, Penney and the above mentioned players would have been available for Zimbabwe it would have been a much stronger outfit. As the above are lost for various reasons the board should do everything possible to get its talented players to be available for selection to play for the national side.

What is the morale in the side at the moment and when will Blignaut be available again? Has he recovered from his injury?

Reply: One of the problems in Zimbabwe is the lack of what many people consider to be a good university in the country, so many of our young players go to South African universities instead, and some of them do not return. Darlington Matambanadzo is still playing and enjoying a good season for Universals Sports Club, but the team manager Max Ebrahim feels he needs to give more time to the game and show more ambition to challenge for the national side. David Brain is now 35 and has been involved in business for several years, so he cannot really be considered.

Yes, there have been problems at times with players becoming discouraged, like Adam Huckle recently, but at least we do not have top players leaving the country to play cricket elsewhere any longer. The morale in the Zimbabwe team still appears to be good, as Gary Brent freely testified in his interview last week. Andy Blignaut is still not fully fit, and is not expected to be so until January, although he is playing club cricket and bowling at half-pace.

Graeme Johnstone-Robertson As a Zimbabwean living in the UK and an ex-3rd's/2nd's Sports Club player, it brought a wry smile to my face to read about Sports Club's problems with the nets, having to share them with the Sri Lankans. But it did give me the opportunity to face 'Murali' in the those nets before he became a controversial legend. I am sad to hear that they only have two teams playing this year, but more news on the seconds would be great. If you have the space please give us a full list of who's playing where, and at what club. And is the old man Gavin Johnstone-Robertson still playing??

Keep it up and look forward to the next news letter.

Reply: Thanks for your letter, and we have included a list of the leading players for each club in our clubs section this week. And yes, 'the old man' is still playing; he has played a few first-league matches this season and tells me he has even scored a few first-league runs and taken a few first-league wickets, and is proud to be the oldest first-league player in the country at 53!

Leon Bain (Australia)

Just who the hell are your selectors? Did they ever play cricket themselves? Do they take pleasure in playing yo-yos with players careers? Your one SUCCESS, if you will, for your season so far came in the rain-ruined First Test, but at least the team looked balanced!! G. Rennie opening with the knowledge he can score runs against them (Pres. XI game), and A. Whittall in the side, your one spinner left still active with international experience. Neither of them did any worse than any of the others, yet they were made SCAPE-GOATS. With only Andy Flower showing any sign of form it would have to be hard on not only the players dropped but their replacements.

Australia has just completed a 3-0 thrashing of Pakistan today. The man of the match was R. Ponting, who had made three ducks in his three innings in the series before this Test! The player of the series was J. Langer, who was the only player to fail in the First Test, after having a very poor series in Sri Lanka and making only 44 against your blokes. M. Waugh continues to defy everybody by scoring big just when he needs to.

Your selectors should take note!! All of these players could easily have been given the boot, but they end up match-winners.

It's good to see Everton back in the side, though the timing of his return might be a bit off. Campbell's getting some starts, but he must convert them.

I gather the selectors have decided that getting Johnson back to the bowling crease in not on the agenda. With his rise up the batting order he's been told to concentrate on just his batting. I don't think he's a no. 4.

Really you can forget about this Test and the series. The team has imploded, not through anything on the field but OFF it. I hope Streak and Strang can be back for at least your Test tours to the WIs and England.

On a lighter note your 'on-line' cricket mag is going very well, though how about some background news, such as injuries, stand-by players for tours, why certain players aren't on tour, etc.

I was surprised to heard about Wishart's injury earlier this year, and J. Rennie's unavailability for the World Cup due to family reasons. If there is a place on the selection panel, please give me a call. Even us armchair critics could do just as well.

Reply: Thanks very much for your views. Our selectors are Andy Pycroft, Denis Streak, Iain Butchart and Trevor Penney, so they do have the background for the job! They have stuck by players like Alistair Campbell despite long periods of poor form, but their recent juggling of the number two batting position is causing some controversy.

Beverly Treml (England)

I was really pleased to find your newsletter on the internet. I have taken an interest in the Zimbabwe test side for a while now and think Neil Johnson a very good player.

My interest originally stems from my being a fan of Trevor Penney's and I am a member of Warwickshire County Cricket Club. However I have come to realise that the Zimbabwe test team are really good and hope to see them when they play Gloucestershire at Bristol next summer.

I realise the internet is not as established in Zimbabwe but wondered if there was any way of receiving your newsletter directly through the internet, without having to rely on Cricinfo.

Reply: Thanks very much for your letter. We are actually a part of CricInfo and their website, so we will not be setting ourselves up separately. -- John Ward

Khalid Vayani (London)

As you are quite close to the Zimbabwe selectors, I hope you can pass this message to them. It's time for the selectors to inject fresh blood into the test side. Grant Flower, Trevor Gripper, Alistair Campbell, Gary Brent and Bryan Strang should make way for Craig Wishart, Stuart Carlisle, Trevor Madondo, David Mutendera and Darlington Matambanadzo.

The last-named will raise eyebrows as he is NOT committed to cricket but by giving him a Test cap it gives him an incentive to commit himself to cricket. Zimbabwe needs to have its talented players available in the Test side. As Zimbabwe needs to win the 3rd test to level the series it's time to play its fastest bowlers (Mutendera) in place of medium-pacers like Strang and Brent. It's a do or die situation and it will be a bold move on the part of the selectors to choose the following side for the next Test.

Wishart, Carlisle, Goodwin, Johnson, A. Flower, Madondo, G. Whittall, Darlington, Mutendera, Olonga and Everton. I hope that Johnson can now bowl as the side needs his bowling contribution.

G. Flower and Campbell need to be given a rest to recharge their batteries as it's a long season for Zimbabwe and there is plenty of cricket to be played.

Reply: It's not easy to assess the situation from afar! You have made your suggestions, and chairman of selectors Andy Pycroft says that they intend to rotate the players from a squad of 20 or 25 in view of the crowded season. Strang and Brent have actually bowled extremely well, and Mutendera is not much faster than they. Much depends on the pitch, and the pace bowlers are selected with this in mind.