Kingsley Went - updated biography

FULL NAME: Kingsley Peter Robert Went
BORN: 19 August 1981, at Harare
MAJOR TEAMS: Manicaland. Present club side: Mutare Sports Club
KNOWN AS: Kingsley Went. Nickname: `King'
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Off Spin
OCCUPATION: Professional cricketer

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: 24-26 March 2000, CFX Academy v Manicaland, at Mutare Sports Club
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: Still awaited

BIOGRAPHY (updated April 2002)

Kingsley Went, who lives in Mutare and plays for Manicaland, was one of the 2000 students at the CFX Academy. He is a promising top-order batsman who used to keep wicket at times but is now developing his off-spin bowling. After completing his course at the Academy he was posted back to Mutare to play for and coach in the province.

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.

Even at junior school his natural talent was such that he went almost straight into the team, as an opening batsman and wicket-keeper. Towards the end of his high-school days he developed his off-breaks, but still kept wicket at times. The change in emphasis came about two years ago when he spoke to Mike Whiley of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and was encouraged into this role.

At junior school he made some good scores, notably 94 not out against Murray McDougall and 88 not out against Mvurachena, both capable school teams. He was selected for the South-Eastern Districts team in the national primary schools cricket week as vice-captain, in 1993. In his first three years at high school, now at Hillcrest College, he played for the Mashonaland Country Districts Under-15 schools side, and for the next three years their Under-19 side. Despite these successes, though, he did not quite make the national side at any level.

At high school his best performances were 122 not out, scored against a touring school side from Norwich in England, 103 against a Hillcrest Old Boys team and 99 against Watershed. He scored a number of eighties and nineties in his final years at school without actually reaching three figures. For most of his school career he was vice-captain of his teams, and was awarded the captaincy in his final year, 1999.

Almost throughout his school career he had the same coach, Simon Scott-Elliott, who helped him a great deal, and he also pays tribute to the attention of Mark Burmester at the Manicaland nets, together with several other senior Manicaland players. Since then he has learned a lot from Shane Cloete in particular at the Academy.

At the age of 15 he started playing club cricket in Mutare, for the school team which played in the local league, and later for Mutare Sports Club. He was soon a member of the full Manicaland team, which was at that time still in the second national league, and has played for them over since, taking over as wicket-keeper during the 2000/01 season when the regular keeper Roy Barbour was unavailable. His bowling was not used, but Kingsley sees his second line in bowling rather than keeping. He has developed a good action and in a schools match in August 1999 took three wickets for 33 in ten overs against St Martin's from South Africa. He was then handicapped by a neck injury that prevented him from bowling for several weeks.

Kingsley applied for a place in the CFX Academy for 2000 and was accepted. He took Maths, geography and business management at A-level to give him some other qualifications, and may consider taking a degree by correspondence in business management in the future. He is looking towards the Zimbabwe A team and eventually the full national side.

He was able to play only one first-class match for the Academy during his time with them. Batting at number three against his home province of Manicaland, he scored 37, but slipped a disc in his back during his innings. That put him out of the match and the rest of the season.

Fit again at the start of the 2000 season in England, he enjoyed a successful club cricket for Upminster in Essex. He scored nine fifties in 18 games with a highest score of 86.

Returning to the Academy, he came under the wing of Dave Houghton who moved there after finishing his time as national coach, before being posted back to Manicaland. He felt that Dave helped him to develop into a better all-round batsman, while his bowling was developing slowly. "Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up and be an all-rounder in future," he says.

He continued to play club cricket for Mutare Sports Club and feels he did quite well during the 2000/01 season, despite being shuttled up and down the order between numbers one and five. Playing in a Vigne Cup match for Harare Sports Club second team against Winstonians seconds in 2000/01, when Mutare had no match, he scored 134 not out. He played in England again during 2000, for Ely and Haddenham in the Cambridgeshire league. "I had quite a good season, averaging over 40 with the bat and a top score of 130, and did quite well with the ball," he said. In 2002 he will play for South Oxford and Lister.

He was in the Mutare Sports Club team that won the national league in 2001/02, finding his opportunities restricted as he went in at number five or six, and his highest score was 47 against Old Georgians. In the Logan Cup he scored two fifties. He enjoys living in Mutare and plans to continue his cricket there in the future.

As a batsman he is a strong driver off the front foot, but can also hook and cut. His policy is to play himself in slowly at the crease and then score more freely as he settles in. Given a choice, he prefers to open the batting. When not keeping wicket, he generally fields close in behind the wicket.

Perhaps his most difficult batting experience to date was at the age of 15, when he had to face the former South African pace bowler Richard Snell on a wet pitch. The match in question was between the touring Nicky Oppenheimer's XI and a Manicaland team. He also found difficulty in adjusting to the pace of Henry Olonga and Travis Friend, while Pommie Mbangwa and Gary Brent are also bowlers who have earned his great respect. He also names Essex pace bowler Ricky Anderson, after facing him in a benefit match during 2000.

Kingsley is not playing any other sports at present, but he has played men's representative hockey for Manicaland, as well as the schools hockey team that won the inter-districts championship in 1999. He would like to continue playing hockey, but realizes that his cricket commitments may not make that possible at present. He has also played golf and tennis socially.

He is very positive about the future of cricket in Manicaland. "There's a lot of development going on, and hopefully we will be able to host a few international games in the near future," he says.