Andre Hoffman - biography

FULL NAME: Andre Pierre Hoffman
BORN: At Harare, 23 April 1978
MAJOR TEAMS: Mashonaland (1999/2000), CFX Academy (2001/02)
KNOWN AS: Andre Hoffman. Nicknames: Hoffie, Hoffmeister, Burger
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Medium Pace
OCCUPATION: CFX Academy student

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: 3-5 March 2000, Mashonaland v CFX Academy, at Country Club, Harare
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: Still awaited

BIOGRAPHY (March 2002)

Andre Hoffman, currently captain of the CFX Academy in the 2001/02 Logan Cup competition, is a cricketer with a handicap, which he is not afraid to admit and to tackle. He has to fight against being overweight, and has achieved such success that it is hard, looking at him today, to realize that this is a constant problem in his life and career.

Andre comes from a rugby rather than a cricketing family, but came to realize that he has more talent in cricket. His brother, eleven years older than he, played cricket, although not at an exalted level, and he passed on his love of the game to Andre. He can remember playing back-yard cricket with him when very young, his introduction to the game.

He began his junior schooling at North Park, where he played for the colts team, but later moved to board at Barwick. He remembers taking nine wickets for 30 runs in trials for the Zimbabwe Under-13 team, bowling medium-paced outswingers, and thinks he took more than 30 wickets during that week. He followed it with a successful tour to England with the Mashonaland Country Districts Under-13 schools side; he remembers scoring 86 against a Sussex team. "I've always been an all-rounder," he says. "I've always preferred batting; that's been my main key, but I've got something to fall back on if I fail with the bat."

He moved from Barwick to high school at Watershed near Marondera, the same school as Raymond Price, who was two years ahead of him, but they played first-team cricket together. "One thing I enjoyed about playing with Raymond was that he had a lot of guts and he definitely tried a lot harder than anyone else," said Andre. "He probably wasn't the most talented of cricketers but he always worked hard at his game. I can remember before trials one year getting up at five o'clock in the morning for about two terms and having throw-downs with him in the nets."

Watershed, a comparatively new school, did not have a strong team and by the end of his first year Andre found himself in the senior team. In a schools festival that year he remembers scoring 78 not out and also taking four wickets against Jameson (Kadoma). For his Under-13 team he recorded innings of 170 and 180, both not out, against Eaglesvale and Hillcrest, and took over 100 wickets. Unfortunately a back injury at the start of his second year prevented him from bowling for a year, which hampered his confidence when he returned and its long-term effects cut down his speed. Back problems still hamper him at times.

In the fourth form he scored seven successive fifties, but `only about three or four hundreds' altogether for the first team, putting it down to lapses in concentration. He names deputy head Jim Davidson as the greatest influence on his career, the man who taught him the desire for and love of the game. He played in all the age-group teams for Zimbabwe from Under-13 level onwards, captaining the Under-15 team, and was a member of the Under-19 team to tour England in 1997.

He joined Harare Sports Club at the age of 14 and has played for them ever since when in Zimbabwe, enjoying the camaraderie at the club. He has played for them mainly as a bowler, but 2001/02 he thought was his most successful all-round season for them, scoring three half-centuries and several instances of four wickets in an innings. He also played winter league cricket for Watershed, scoring five centuries for them in 1998.

Andre left school in 1998, and decided to opt for overseas experience, spending three seasons playing in the United Kingdom, trying to "further my knowledge of different conditions, which I think has worked, and has also helped in the mental aspect with the game. I think I'm a lot more focused now than when I left."

In 1999 he played for Alderley Edge, topping the batting averages in scoring over 800 runs, with four centuries, but without bowling much as he was suffering from a shin splint injury. He returned to Zimbabwe, made his first-class debut for Mashonaland and was selected for the Board XI at the end of the season; in 2000 he played for Selkirk in Scotland. Tired of the politics interfering with the game in Zimbabwe, he decided he would give himself two years away from the country, but privately expected never to return. A winter in Scotland soon changed his mind.

By the time he returned his weight had increased to 115 kilograms or more, and he found the cricket community did not take him seriously - despite the example of the legendary Richie Kaschula, who played at times with weight reputedly in excess of 130 kilograms! He found encouragement, though, from Andy Flower, who told him that if he put his heart into it, he could lose the weight and make a successful return to cricket.

He returned to England for the 2001 season to play for Norton in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire league, a season he did not enjoy. His personal performances were disappointing, and he calculated he had an average of four catches a game dropped off his bowling. The death of his mother in Zimbabwe also affected him badly, as he had enjoyed a close relationship with her and she had always supported him.

However, Andre's brother is in the army in England, and at this stage his influence for good on Andre continued. When he returned to England, his brother put him through commando training for six months, which lost him about 30 kilograms. "The focus he put into me made me decided that, yes, cricket was the way forward, and I was going to come back (to Zimbabwe) and give it my best shot. That is basically why I applied to come to the Academy."

Andre feels he still has to lose another ten kilograms to be his ideal weight, but he now looks no more than burly and his application to fitness is satisfying the requirements of the Academy. "Everything is heading forward at the moment," he said. "I've put myself on hold for a bit for a prosperous cricket career, and now I intend to work hard at my game and see if I can actually make it to the top. I want to be a role model to a lot of people who think they're overweight and can't do things - or anything that is holding them back. I want to show them that if they put in a little bit of hard work - in fact, a lot of hard work - things can happen.

"It may sound a bit bigheaded, but I do intend to play Test cricket and I do intend to play one-day cricket for Zimbabwe. But that only comes with hard work and getting the right break at the right time, and cashing in on it."

Andre is still keen to play cricket, of a higher standard next time, during the English season, and recalls a game during 2001 when he played as a guest for a club that is interested in hiring him as a future professional. He scored 160 not out, and would have won the match for them had not a run-out on the final ball of the game brought about a tie.

Andre is predominantly a back-foot player who `likes taking it to the bowler'; he prefers batting at number four or five. When bowling, he feels that patience is his main virtue and he gets most of his wickets simply by bowling in the channel and getting many caught-behind decisions. His favourite fielding position is first slip.

Cricket heroes: Andy Flower and Steve Waugh.

Toughest opponents: Bowler - "John Traicos, in the nets at Harare Sports Club - very wily and cunning." Batsmen - Andy Flower and Alistair Campbell.

Personal ambitions: "I'd love to play Test cricket and get a big hundred; to captain the team would be an even greater honour."

Proudest achievement so far: Captaining the Academy side, a dream come true.

Best friends in cricket: Bryan Strang, Donald Campbell, Mark Vermeulen, Raymond Price, Trevor Gripper.

Other qualifications: No actual qualifications, but worked as a computer technician for eight or nine months, but found it difficult to take on a daily basis. He started his own computer business, doing odd jobs, and made quite a bit of money, but still found it too monotonous.

Other sports: Rugby up to provincial level at school - "but it got a bit taxing on the body." Athletics.

Outside interests: Computers - despite their being boring!

Views on cricket: I'd prefer better umpiring - but we all make mistakes! I think rather than choosing players on colour, I would prefer a performance-based selection. Instead of having a quota system, players should be picked because they're in good form or they have what it takes to succeed at that level, and we'd have a much better Test side. The Test side would believe in each other and we wouldn't have the problems of players not wanting captaincy and so on, if we were playing the best side. I feel we could probably pick a second team that would give the Test side a good run for their money."