KNOWN AS: Dion Ebrahim. Nickname: Diggers, Digs
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Medium Pace
OCCUPATION: Professional cricketer
FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: CFX Academy v Sri Lankans, at Kwekwe, 12 November 1999
TEST DEBUT: Zimbabwe v Bangladesh, at Queens Sports Club, 18-21 April 2001
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL DEBUT: Zimbabwe v Bangladesh, at Harare Sports Club, 2 April 2001

When the first intake of students from the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, that of 1999, was unleashed on the cricketing world, it was interesting to see how they coped and developed in the next stage for them, that of Zimbabwean domestic cricket. One who made an immediate impact was the cheerful Universals batsman Dion Ebrahim.

Dion, according to the Academy director at that time Gwynne Jones, was one of the most impressive of his students, both as a cricketer and as a man. He arrived very much a rough diamond, but through his own hard work and enthusiasm made tremendous progress and was soon reaping the rewards. Dion quickly become a member of the Zimbabwe Board XI, although often sent in to bat too low in the order to give him the best possible chance of performing, and also ran up a string of good scores for his club side in league cricket.

Although his family now lives in Harare, Dion was born in Bulawayo. His father Rashid used to play regularly for Bulawayo Sports Club, and Dion remembers from the age of about six playing in the back yard, and says with a smile that 'being the youngest I always got the raw deal of having to face both my father and my brother!' It did however get him used to better quality bowling at a young age. He also used to watch his father play.

He attended Whitestone Primary School in Bulawayo, coaching beginning at Grade 3 level, although it was not until he reached Grade 5 that he was selected for the school colts team. He then spent two years in the first team, being vice-captain throughout his school years. He began mainly as a pace bowler, but one day when the team wicket-keeper was injured Dion offered to take his place, and stayed behind the stumps for the rest of the season. "My bowling went on a downward slope from there, and never actually came back," he laughs. Universals cricket chairman Max Ebrahim (no relation) would disagree, though, as he rates Dion's medium-paced swingers quite highly.

Dion continued to keep wicket for a time at high school, but his coach there eventually decided that it would be better for him to concentrate on his batting. In one match for Whitestone he claims to have taken all ten wickets in an innings, but laughingly admits that it was actually nine wickets to him as a bowler, while he ran out the tenth batsman off his own bowling!

Dion names Dave Fleming, a teacher at Falcon College, as the main cricketing influence of his schooldays. Dave had a son at Whitestone at that time and he used to come in and help with the coaching himself during the week, together with some of the senior Falcon players, including Guy Whittall. Mr Omar Mohammad was the official Whitestone first-team coach, and he also helped in the development of the young Dion.

In his Grade 6 year at Whitestone, 1992, Dion was selected for the Matabeleland schools team to play in the national primary schools cricket week, and the following year he made the national Under-13 team, the Partridges, to travel to the South African Week; in his first year at high school he was still the right age to make a second trip. He had a highly impressive record at primary school, scoring his first century in Grade 6. There was a tradition at the school that a batsman who scored a century had the honour of planting a tree at the cricket ground, and Dion planted three. His centuries came against Lilfordia, Rydings and St Thomas Aquinas. His highest score in any class of cricket to date, 163, came at Falcon, but he cannot remember the opposition.

Dion began his high school career at Falcon College with a bang, recording a century in his first match. This was followed by a 'golden duck', and then another century. He believes he scored no fewer than twelve centuries in inter-school cricket that year. In his Form Two year he went for trials for the national Under-15 team, the Fawns, but did not gain selection; the following year he found that the age limit had been adjusted to fall into line with the regulations for the Under-15 World Cup, and he was just too old.

He did not win selection for his school first team until the end of his Form Three year, though, as he says selection was strictly on age and there was no early promotion unless a player was really talented - although if twelve centuries in a year does not meet that qualification it is hard to tell what does! He began for the first team at number seven or eight, but quickly moved up to four or five. In his last two years he scored two or three centuries for the first team. Again the influence of Dave Fleming was critical in his development, as well as his other coaches Dave Grant and Richard Harrison. Dave Fleming, Dion says, 'really nurtured me from when I was very young to the day I left, which I appreciate greatly'.

His next chance at representative cricket came in the 1997/98 season when he was selected for the national Under-19 team to play in the South African Schools Week and the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. He played two notable innings in the World Cup at number six in the order, an innings of 48 not out seeing Zimbabwe home in a tight match against West Indies which enabled them to qualify for the last eight, and then held the Zimbabwean innings together with 60 not out, by far the top score of the innings, in a vain effort against South Africa.

In 1998 came his final year at school, when he had the honour of captaining both his school team and the Matabeleland Under-19 side which won the inter-provincial tournament for the Father Nixon Shield that year. He was also appointed vice-captain of the national Under-19 team. Dion originally planned to go to university, probably Cape Town or Stellenbosch, on leaving school, to study physiotherapy, with a view to using his skills with sports. But he heard of the proposed establishment of a Zimbabwe Cricket Academy and thought it would be a good idea to take a year off and further his cricket, a decision he has not regretted.

He was duly accepted, and afterwards again put on hold for a year his university plans for 2000, deciding that his cricket had developed so well that he should take advantage of the experience for another year. Dion actually found he had a hard choice to make between the national cricket academy and the rugby academy. He was a promising Under-19 rugby player, at fly-half, but felt that he would be able to enjoy a longer and better career with cricket.

He had a good all-round season in 1999 with Upminster in the Essex league, averaging over 50 with the bat, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience both on and off the field. During his academy year he was also selected for the first time for the Zimbabwe Board XI, although as a junior player he was generally placed too low in the batting order to be seen to best advantage. He did play a pleasing innings of 46 against Gauteng in a three-day match.

He played a one-day match against the Australian Cricket Academy, scoring only a few runs but impressing coach Rodney Marsh with his attitude. Marsh later commented that Dion exhibited the correct mental make-up for a top player. At the academy he spent a great deal of his free time, along with some of his colleagues, developing his skills at the facilities available there and working on his game. He pays tribute to some of the senior academy students, such as Everton Matambanadzo, Dirk Viljoen and Gary Brent, for their willingness to pass on their knowledge to him. He did not only improved technically, but learned to develop a professional attitude towards the game.

Dion's family had moved up to Harare in 1992, and so he first joined Universals Cricket Club during the school holidays of the 1997/98 season. In his first match, for the second team, he scored a fifty and was promoted immediately to the first team. Cricket chairman Max Ebrahim was so impressed that he promised Dion that as soon as he finished school he would have a place in the first team for him. Max kept that promise, and actually took the initiative, contacting Dion when he left school and offering him a place as a wicket-keeper initially. Dion for his part pays tribute to Max for all the time, advice and extra practice opportunities he has given him, and has never considered moving to any other club. Dion's best performance for Universals that season was an unbeaten century against MacDonald Club of Bulawayo, and he also scored 86 against Manicaland, amid a run of other good scores.

Max Ebrahim describes how Dion blossomed after only a couple of games for them, and senior player Ali Shah took him under his wing. "He is willing to learn all the time and should make it to the top in two years or so," he says, a prophecy that proved accurate. "He is a hard worker and an asset to any team."

Dion did struggle to start with at the Academy, largely through technical problems, according to Gwynne Jones, but he worked hard to overcome these. He returned from his season in England a much improved and more confident player, as his results soon showed, for both the Board XI and Universals. For his part Dion felt disappointed at batting rather low in the order for the academy teams as he tends to be a slow starter to an innings, needing time to adjust to the pace of the pitch, and he would often come in to bat with only five or six overs left to the innings.

Nevertheless Dion felt that it was due to his experiences at the academy that he enjoyed such a good run in league cricket. He now bats high in the order for Universals, opening or in the number three position that he prefers, giving him time to build an innings.

He was contracted to return to Matabeleland as a player and coach for the year, and spend the off season playing and coaching in England again. He still has relatives down there, but he shared accommodation provided for the ex-academy players in Bulawayo. The following season his request to return to Harare - and Universals - was approved.

The 2000/01 season was a great season for Dion. He batted consistently for Mashonaland A in the Logan Cup, scoring three fifties, with a highest of 90 against Midlands. This 90 was scored opening the batting, a move requested by the selectors with a view to the future, as they were looking for an opening batsman in the international team.

It seemed to convince them, as Dion made his international debut in the one-day series against Bangladesh at home. He batted down the order to start with and scarcely got in as the top order plundered the weak Bangladesh bowling, but when the Test series came round Dion was in as an opener. He scored only 51 runs in three innings against Bangladesh, but they persevered with him. He was obviously struggling to find his feet at international level, especially opening the innings, but he fought it through and scored 49 against India and 71 against West Indies.

When South Africa toured at the start of the following season, Dion again scored 71, twice, and it seemed to be a hoodoo score for him. He was disappointed not to cash in on the tour to Bangladesh, but in India he finally passed 71 and made 94 before being given out to a dubious lbw decision.

In the one-day arena he took longer to get going, but this was at least partly because he was batting down the order, anywhere between five and eight. He actually had ten successive one-day innings reaching double figures, but his highest was only 42; opportunities for long innings are rare down there and come only when the side is already in trouble. Finally given the chance to open, though, against Bangladesh away, he ran up his first international century, 121, and followed it with 84 in the next match. This won him the Man of the Series award.

But against the stronger nations since then he has struggled at the top of the innings in one-day cricket. Like other Zimbabwean batsmen, he found the tour of Sri Lanka particularly difficult, but a vital learning experience.

"It's been a big lesson and I've learned a lot over the last year, concerning myself and my own personal game," he admitted humbly at the start of the 2002/03 season. This was immediately after recording, finally, his maiden first-class century, a fine 182 against Manicaland. "I feel I've developed and strengthened in the necessary areas. I've had a bit of inconsistency, but now with what I've learned I hope I can move on and try and get more consistent. A lot of it is related to my technique and also my mental approach to the game. Obviously the experience of playing alongside and against world-class opposition taught me a lot, and it's basically either sink or swim, how quickly I can adapt and learn. I can see playing in domestic cricket now that I'm much more experienced."

He names Muttiah Muralitharan and Zaheer Khan as the bowlers over that year who gave him the most difficulty. "I think I'm playing spin a lot better than I was at the start of last season," he said. "That's basically learning a new technique in the way to play spin and it has been very beneficial - the tour of India proved that." He continues to open the batting, although he prefers the middle order, but realizes there are no vacancies there at present. "I just have to adapt to wherever I fit into the game plan," he says.

As a batsman Dion is a wristy player, stronger on the leg side, with an unorthodox grip in that his left hand is held further round the bat handle than is usual. He has spent time, though, developing his off-side strokes as well. He rarely bowls now, even for Universals, as he is concentrating his efforts on batting, but he has taken good wickets in league cricket in the past.

It is perhaps as a fielder, mainly in the backward point area, that Dion excels most at present. He is already one of the quickest and most brilliant fielders in the country, and Max Ebrahim describes his fielding there as 'unbelievable'.

Dion enjoys other sports, but also has a particular interest in computers and the internet, and in stamp-collecting. He also enjoys physical training and keeping himself fit in the gym. He is an engaging and popular personality, known as a 'good lad' and is full of gratitude to his family, club and academy for all they have done to make his career possible.