Mark Abrams - short biography

FULL NAME: Mark Desmond Abrams

BORN: 26 April 1972, at Kadoma

MAJOR TEAMS: Matabeleland (1993/94 to date). Present club side: MacDonald Club.

KNOWN AS: Mark Abrams. Nickname: Abie, Slinger (because of his bowling action!).

BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat

BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Medium Pace

OCCUPATION: Manager of hardware store

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: Matabeleland v Mashonaland Under-24, at Queens Sports Club, 14-16 January 1994

TEST DEBUT: Still awaited

ODI DEBUT: Still awaited

BIOGRAPHY (March 2000)

Mark Abrams, appointed captain of Matabeleland for the 1999/2000 season, was thought of for several seasons as one of Zimbabwe's most promising young batsman. Unfortunately, to date that promise has largely remained unfulfilled. He remains an exciting batsman and a superb fielder, but has still to make the impact on the game that was expected of him, although he has not given up all hope of representing his country.

Mark has surprisingly little family background in the game, although his father was briefly a Matabeleland administrator and his mother a scorer. His father's main sport, though, was water polo and his mother's squash, and Mark feels it was more through his administrative abilities that his father served on the Matabeleland Board several seasons ago. His parents have always been very supportive of Mark's cricket, though, even from his earliest days in the game.

Mark grew up in the Midlands town of Gatooma, now Kadoma. He attended Sir John Kennedy primary school in Kadoma and began to play seriously at the age of about nine. Cricket at the school was run more by enthusiastic parents than by the staff. He was captain of the colts team, which was followed by two years in the school first team. He also played in the Midlands team in the national primary schools cricket week for two years, but he has no clear memories of his performances at junior school. His enthusiasm for the game developed when he attended a coaching clinic run by Dave Houghton in the town of Banket, north of Kadoma.

He progressed to Jameson High School at Kadoma, where he captained his age-group teams right up to first-team level, playing for the first team for three years. He scored his first century at the age of 15 against Lomagundi College. He was until his penultimate year at school more of a bowler than a batsman, though, bowling seamers as he has always done. He used to bat at around number eight or nine, but pushed his way up to number six, the position he was batting when he scored his century. He went in to bat early on, with his team struggling at about 20 for four wickets, and his century led such a fine recovery that his team won the match.

Mark remembers taking six for 19 against Eaglesvale, a team which included Test player Alistair Campbell. He continued to be selected for representative teams, playing for Mashonaland Country Districts at Under-15 and senior levels, winning selection for the national team at both levels, two years in the national schools side, including a tour of England. He also played for Chegutu and then Kadoma in the Mashonaland Country Districts winter league.

At the age of 18 he joined Old Hararians Sports Club, playing school matches on Saturday and club cricket on Sundays. With the support of his parents he would drive in to Harare for practices twice a week, and when his school matches were played in Harare, as many of them were, he would stay overnight in Harare to play for the club. It was again Dave Houghton's influence that drew him to Old Hararians: he had attended several coaching clinics held by Houghton in the Midlands and Houghton encouraged him to join the club. He remembers that in his first two-day match for the club, against Matabeleland, he scored 101, while Wayne James scored 110, the two of them sharing an opening partnership of over 200.

After taking his A-levels and leaving school Mark spent three seasons overseas under the sponsorship of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, spending six months in Zimbabwe and six months in England on a coaching basis. He spent two seasons with Kirkstall, in Leeds, and one for Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire. He scored 900 runs in his first season and seven centuries. He remembers in one match scoring 119 out of an opening stand of 135.

Mark feels that English conditions are ideal for teaching a batsman his trade. "The ball moves a lot more, the wickets are a lot softer," he says. "You have to play a lot tighter game, whereas here I find now and again the tracks get very flat and you don't have to move your feet. Overseas you can get I guy who I don't think would be rated as a good bowler in this country who can bowl very well there, moving it both ways and the ball not coming on to the bat, so you tend to have to play a lot of your back-foot shots behind the wicket as opposed to hitting the ball."

After his return to Zimbabwe for the third time, he felt that with the situation as it then was he would not be able to make a reasonable living out of cricket, and joined a firm of architects in Bulawayo to spend three years draughting. His parents had also recently moved to Bulawayo so he followed them there. However, he could not undertake any further studies in Zimbabwe and his company would not allow him to study outside the country; he realised that he would be on an apprentice's salary for the rest of his life, so he left, and is now managing a hardware store in Bulawayo.

He played two seasons at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, before joining Old Miltonians. When he married and started a family he decided to take most of a season off from serious cricket and joined Busters, a nearby club which he captained. He then joined MacDonald Club and has spent the last two seasons with them. His best club performance while in Bulawayo has been an innings of about 130 against Alexandra Sports Club in the national league. During the winters he played Matabeleland Districts cricket, and recorded an innings of 215 not out for Busters against Nyati, Denis Streak's team, his highest score in any class of cricket.

Mark made his first-class debut in the Logan Cup in 1993/94, but did little that season apart from scoring 64 and 33 against Mashonaland. The following season his promise won him selection for a President's XI against the touring Sri Lankans in Harare, but he failed to score in the match. He did, however, have a fine match double of 64 and 50 against Glamorgan, in Zimbabwe on a pre-season tour. He began the 1995/96 season well, with 71 and 31 against Mashonaland again, but then faded, and has actually not scored a first-class fifty since then.

He has appeared on and off for Matabeleland in recent years, but in the current season, with Matabeleland captain Heath Streak on international duty, he was appointed captain of the provincial team. It was a very young side, few of whom had had any first-class experience before, but it was a new horizon for Mark who is still settling down in the job but appears to be letting the burden rest lightly on his shoulders.

But he has never fulfilled his potential as a batsman, still carrying an average of less than 20 after more than 20 first-class matches. What went wrong? "Application, I would say," Mark admits. "I would say it's just a case of not enough practising. I think it might have been when I was at OH and then coming to Bulawayo, and then turning round and saying, 'To be honest with yourself, are you going to play cricket for your living?' You can't kid yourself and play for seven years, and then try to find a job and the only background you have is a professional cricket career. I think I did that. When I did my draughting I tried to kid myself that I could do two things at once, that I could work for my living and play cricket."

As a batsman he is a strong back-foot player with powerful drives, especially on the off side. His footwork is limited, though, as he admits himself, and he is a regular candidate for an lbw decision. "I've got a very big problem with moving my feet," he says. "I get into line and then miss it!" He feels that numbers five or six in the batting order suit him best, due to his lack of footwork.

As a bowler he simply names 'experience' as his main attribute. He hits the seam 'now and again' but realises that he does not have the pace to trouble batsmen. He tries to swing the ball in and make the odd ball go straight through. He is a superb fielder who enjoys the backward point position.

He can name few coaches apart from Dave Houghton who really gave him a great deal of help, but rather experienced team-mates with whom he practised every day and kept dropping him hints, players such as Heath Streak and John Rennie, who would point out faults in his technique and help him overcome them.

Mark is living in Bulawayo, married to Michelle and has a two-year-old son and a newly born son.

Cricket heroes: "People I'd like to be like, Desmond Haynes, for one; a long time ago Colin Robertson, when he was playing for Zimbabwe, and Alistair Campbell, when he was in good form."

Most difficult opponents: "Matthew Horne of New Zealand was in England at the same time and he was very hard to bowl to, again because I had no pace behind me. Once he got to 40 or 50 he could put me wherever he wanted. Bowlers, people like the South Africans Elworthy and Jack, because of their pace and movement."

Ambitions in cricket: "I'd still love to play for the country, but that's hard now. It's gone very professional and you've got to train seven days of the week. You can do that if you're not trying to hold down a job. But I'm not out yet; I'm not going to stop yet. I would say at least another eight years, and hopefully I'll make my objective!"

Proudest achievement: "It was against Glamorgan here at Bulawayo Athletic Club. From playing at five or six I was asked to go in at three, and we lost early wickets [the team was 23 for four at one stage], and I batted most of the day and got 64. Sometimes it's a fluke playing an innings like that, but again in the second innings I got a fifty. I went from not really being involved in the game, going in with the old ball, to getting in and doing a job again."

Best friends in cricket: Alistair Campbell, most of the national players, most of the Mashonaland players. "I've known them all for a long time. In this match I still have to remind them that I am their friend!"

Other sports: Squash, where he represented Zimbabwe at junior level; rugby at school level and Matabeleland Under-21.

Other interests: "My family! Trying to keep fit and enjoy my family."