South Africa in Zimbabwe: further thoughts and comments

Another wholesale slaughter for Zimbabwe's bowlers in the first one-day international in Bulawayo last weekend, as South Africa ran up the highest total ever recorded against Zimbabwe in a one-day international. 363 for three is quite an advance on the 313 for seven scored by Sri Lanka in the World Cup of 1991/92, the previous highest our team has ever conceded.

Our bowlers have taken a lot of hammering in recent months, and they will not forget South Africa's 600 for three in the Harare Test in a hurry. West Indies also scored 559 for six in the Bulawayo Test in July, and last November India scored 609 for six against us.

The three highest Test match totals in nine years of Test cricket have all been recorded within the last year. Even when we first began and had a paper-thin attack before the coming of Heath Streak as a major force and with Eddo Brandes sometimes injured, our bowlers never suffered like this. Why?

WHY THE DECLINE?

There are three fairly obvious reasons. Firstly, there is the serious injury problem we regularly undergo, but which has been worse against South Africa, with Andy Blignaut, Brighton Watambwa and Bryan Strang all out of action. Secondly, we have the decline of Streak as a bowler, both factors that I have mentioned before.

Thirdly, the groundsmen prepared pitches, no doubt to blunt the powerful South African pace attack, that have very little in them for bowlers and favour the bat. I think this is the right policy for our players, except that a little more pace in some pitches would be better. We have had some Tests and one-day internationals in the past few years played on very bowler-friendly surfaces, mainly at Harare Sports Club, and they have been disastrous. Especially when Zimbabwe lost the toss and were put in to bat, as invariably happened.

But there is more to it than that. The quality of the bowling has been so poor, with even Streak at times unable to bowl a consistent line and length. The selectors' policy recently has been to select bowlers with genuine pace or spin, and the ability to bowl wicket-taking deliveries. The trouble is that at Test level there have been few signs of wicket-taking deliveries actually doing their job.

THE VIRTUE OF ACCURACY

They seem to have forgotten the value of accuracy. Bryan Strang was omitted from the team from the Bangladesh tour up to the triangular tournament, when Streak's temporary resignation over selection and other issues immediately resulted in his reinstatement. He is obviously and rightly a players' choice. And immediately his value was obvious, as his accuracy put a brake on the scoring and his overall average was up there with the best.

But, when he was ruled out of the South African tour through injury, the selectors did not seek to replace him with another bowler of proven accuracy. Pommie Mbangwa has not played international cricket for a year now and he was not even included in the squad. Gary Brent, not quite as good or experienced as a bowler perhaps, but handier with the bat, was also not selected. Instead we had bowlers who were simply too inaccurate to keep the batsmen quiet, let alone trouble them. So much of Test cricket is about applying pressure, and our current bowlers have on performances so far been quite incapable of doing that.

Young bowlers like Travis Friend have great potential, there is no doubt about that, but he has not shown the consistency needed yet. Given a stronger bowling side, he could be eased into international cricket, but he has so little back-up from the rest of the attack that his inaccuracy has been critical. Doug Hondo is another who should have a fine future, but he was clearly unready for Test cricket when he was plunged into it in Harare - as first-class career figures of 11 wickets in eight matches at an average of 43 might have suggested. At least he was not a complete failure, as he held up his end usefully with the bat and held a fine catch, besides capturing one wicket.

With so many experienced players in the team now - the Flowers, Alistair Campbell, Streak and Guy Whittall have all played over 40 Tests - one would expect performances to improve. But, apart from the great Andy Flower, none of these players are turning in significantly better performances than they did five years ago.

BURNOUT?

I suspect they are just playing too much these days, touring the globe for most of the year and rarely having much time to relax and to hone their techniques, both vital for successful players. The big occasion does not quite inspire them as it used to, because it has become all too common, and the adrenaline is diluted. They will struggle again this year, because after playing England they visit Sharjah, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India in quick succession before returning to play Australia. Their only significant break is between India and Australia, when they will be expected to play in the Logan Cup. From May they finally have a four-month break to rest their weary bodies and minds.

For young players on these tours the physical and mental pressures are so much greater. It is likely there will be more injuries, and our back-ups, especially in the pace department, are not as good as we thought they were. Asian tours are often the hardest anyway, and we may have to suffer more humiliation before the season is finally over.

Admittedly the administrators are caught in a cleft stick, because all these tours bring in valuable foreign currency for the game, which would suffer in this country without it. Perhaps we just have to recognize that we have to cut our losses in the playing area and take the risk of player burnout, physical and mental, so as to broaden the base of our domestic cricket which will be of benefit in the future.

The fact that our players can get it all together at times helps to bear out my feeling that many of the problems are in the mind. We had a fine Test victory over India, where Streak, Friend and Blignaut bore the brunt of the attack after Watambwa limped off injured, and did so superbly. But there is so little consistency, otherwise we would be winning like that more often.

Just one final word on selectors: Craig Wishart once again experienced the quirks of the selectors, who are unpredictable when they pick him and much more predictable when they drop him after one poor performance. He scored a superb 93 against West Indies, but failed in the First Test against South Africa, to be promptly dropped again. We will never see the best of this immensely talented but vulnerable player until he is given the confidence he needs by the authorities. He has never been sure of a decent run in the side, and his latest sacking from the Bulawayo Test confirms his insecurity.

MAN OF THE SERIES

For the Test series, it went to Jacques Kallis, who scored 388 runs without being dismissed over 1028 minutes, a world record. But was his performance as meritorious as that of Andy Flower, who with much less support and against much better bowling scored 422 runs in 1043 minutes, a slightly better rate? Runs per over works out to Kallis 3.02 and Flower 3.07.

With scores of 67 and 14 not out, Andy did not dominate the Second Test as much as the first, whereas Kallis scored a century in each. But in Bulawayo, Kallis' 189 not out was scored at less than three an over, and this slow rate of scoring meant that South Africa were unable to put themselves into a position to force victory. Kallis is a fine batsman, a fine all-rounder, the best batting all-rounder in the world, but if he had been playing for Australia I think his captain would have expected a more dominating innings from him in Bulawayo. Andy as usual played the best possible role for his side in both innings.

THIS WEEKEND

This weekend sees the final two matches of the one-day series against South Africa at Harare Sports Club. On current form, we can expect two more massive hidings for Zimbabwe.

But Zimbabwe don't play to current form for long. Every now and then they lift themselves to play out of their skins, such as in that crucial Test victory over India, and in the final match of the triangular tournament in Australia last season, when they lost to the hosts by just one run. I think that in at least one of the matches this coming weekend they will pull themselves together and give the South Africans a run for their money, although perhaps a victory is too much to hope for realistically. But it will indeed be a poor show if they do not at some time during those two days give us reason to be proud of them.