Stuart Carlisle has had an uneven career. Once Grant Flower's
opening partner in Test cricket, a back-foot weakness was
exploited by the English tourists of 1996/97 and he disappeared
from Test cricket. On his return from Technikon in South Africa,
he worked hard to re-establish his career and improve his
technique, and won high praise from coach Dave Houghton for his
determination and dedication.
The selectors too believed in him, and gave him a number of
chances in the national side which certain members of the press
and public thought he scarcely deserved, as he rarely succeeded.
But, forced to bat at number seven or even eight in a one-day
side, he had virtually no scope for success. Promoted to number
five for the third one-day international against Sri Lanka, he
failed to score, defeated by Muralitharan's arm ball.
Then, on Saturday 19 December, he gave his critics the best
possible answer by scoring a magnificent undefeated 121 in the
fourth one-day international. The following day he talked to
John Ward about that match.
JW: Stuart, obviously you played that match yesterday under a
great deal of pressure.
SC: Yes, it's always hard coming in when you've made a nought
the previous innings, to bounce back like that, but I knew it was
a good opportunity batting at number three. I also knew it was
going to be hard because I've been playing B cricket [for the
Zimbabwe Board XI in the UCBSA Bowl competition] in the last two
months, and the results haven't been in the paper, so the public
generally have no idea what's been going on. They were probably
asking questions like, "Why is this guy back in the side again?"
but in all modesty I felt I deserved it, so I was really happy to
get a big hundred.
JW: When were you actually told you were going in three?
SC: I think after Wednesday, because I hadn't faced Muralitharan
recently, they decided it was a good idea that I go in three and
play against the seam. I agreed with it, and it certainly took a
lot of pressure off me.
JW: How were you feeling while you were sitting in the changing
room and the opening batsmen were out there and you knew you had
to go in next, and that this was a big one?
SC: Very tense. Very tense, but very focused on what I needed
to do. I was also backing myself and hoping I'd have a bit of
luck to start me off. I knew that if I could get beyond the
first 20, because that's always a bit nerve-racking, I should do
well. But I don't think there's any batsman in the world in an
international who doesn't have a bit of butterflies, and they are
actually quite good for you sometimes. But I was definitely
under quite a bit of pressure.
JW: They say if you lose them, you've also lost your edge.
SC: That's right; you don't ever want to get too relaxed.
JW: How did your innings start?
SC: I remember I cut the second ball for four, and I was very
happy with that shot. I think that was quite a confidence
booster; it always is when you hit a boundary. I think in the
first couple of overs I got a couple of inside edges on to the
pads; I know for a fact I was leaning over, certainly to Chaminda
Vaas, because I knew he bowled the inswinger four out of six
balls, and I kept leaning over because I wanted to make sure I
was getting in line with it, or even outside the line, and I was
going across too much. So I was missing out there and struggling
a bit.
But I know, with Alistair [Campbell] as well, it was hard to
start off with and we both went quite slowly. That pitch was
pretty hard and I thought they bowled very well in the morning,
especially Wickramasinghe; he bowled back of a length really
well, so we found it quite hard to score. It's not too easy when
you get two batsmen who are finding it hard to score, and there's
a bit of pressure. But the best thing we did, I think, was that
we didn't panic, which is always a good thing in one-dayers; we
just held on a little bit longer and just wait for that bad ball
or that little break. That first 20 or 30 runs was quite a
fight, but when I got to 20 or 25 I knew it would be hard work to
get to 50, but I started to get a bit more confidence.
I've been hitting the ball really well in the last two months and
I've got those sixties and seventies with the B side. I've been
playing very straight, which has been great. I'm playing with a
heavier bat now, which seems to help me a lot. Even after
getting my hundred I think I might have been guilty of trying to
hit the ball too hard; at that stage you should have your eye
really well in, which I did, but I think you have to try and
stroke the ball.
For the first twenty or thirty runs of my innings I had to work
really hard. I hadn't been facing international bowlers for the
last two months, and that was always going to be hard, especially
when you have guys like Muralitharan. This was the first time I
had faced him on this tour, although I did face him in the World
Cup, but with those Duke balls it's much easier to see the seam,
and he was actually bowling a little slower in the World Cup;
here he was bowling a lot flatter so it was more difficult to
read it in the air.
I had a bit of luck when I was on about 12 when the ball hit the
edge of my bat and popped up between mid-on and mid-off, but in
most hundreds you have a bit of luck like that. I took that as a
good sign and grafted the first 20 run or 30 runs; it was quite
hard and quite slow, but once I got past the 30 mark I started
playing more naturally and I backed myself to play a lot of the
shots I know I can play. I was dropped once when I was about 70
or 80, but by that stage I had to be taking risks and I was going
well with Andy. Basically I was really happy to get my first
hundred. Before that I had batted at seven or eight all the
time; I batted at number five once, on Wednesday, and then at
number three. So it was particularly good to bat at number three
for the first time and get a hundred, almost my first genuine
chance.
JW: So many of our guys are getting good thirties and forties
but then giving it away, yet you managed to rise above that and
stay right to the end. Is there anything that particularly
helped you to go on to your hundred?
SC: Yes, when I got to 38, I think, I said, "Right, 12 more
runs," and I worked really hard to get to my fifty, because in
the back of my mind as well I knew I didn't have a one-day fifty
and I was really keen to get there. When I got to my fifty I was
obviously happy, and then I got I think 16 runs off one over and
found I was on 70-odd. I suddenly thought, "I can go through and
get a hundred here." I hadn't actually been expecting to get a
big hundred, or a hundred at all, but when I got to the seventies
or eighties we had about 10 o 12 overs left, and I thought I
could definitely get a hundred.
Then when I got to 100 I suddenly thought, "Well, my average is
down since I've been going in number seven"; it's reasonable for
seven, I suppose, but if I'm going to bat three and more up the
order I need to improve my average, so I wanted to be not out as
well. Andy was playing very well and we had such a good
partnership going; we had set a target eight or ten overs before
to get to 230, but we landed up with 260, just from rotating the
strike, and Andy played some really good shots all round the
wicket, so I just strove to be not out. That was one thing I was
quite proud of.
I think in the last three overs I really struggled with my
fitness. I'm not saying I'm unfit at all; I think my fitness is
reasonably good, but it was the first time I had batted in that
intense heat, and to get a hundred in 50 overs means a lot of
running, a lot of twos, a lot of threes. So the last three overs
I certainly struggled a bit. But that's another thing I can work
on.
JW: It didn't seem to affect your batting at all. 'Kalu', when
he got into the eighties, slowed right down, but you just kept up
your momentum all the way through, and if you were particularly
nervous it certainly wasn't evident.
SC: It wasn't nerves at all, just tiredness; you just have to
keep lifting yourself, keep backing yourself. I saw that with
Kalu as well; when he was in the eighties he was calling for
water every second over - it was very hot. It's nothing too
serious, just something to work on, and I'm very glad I got
through it.
JW: Can you describe the Sri Lankan bowlers you faced?
SC: Russel Arnold is not a bad off-spinner and he varies his
bowling; all the spinners, I find, and the same with Jayasuriya
as well, vary the pace of their bowling a lot, and that's their
main form of attack, I suppose. It wasn't turning a lot out
there, so they were just banking on different lengths; obviously
Muralitharan was turning it a hell of a lot, but he can turn it
on glass, as you know. So he was quite hard to face, but I knew
that I could just back my sweep because he was turning it so
much. I got right behind the line of the ball, got my pad out so
if it did miss it then it hit my pad, and I backed myself to hit
hard and on the ground.
Chaminda Vaas, as I said earlier, I think is a very good bowler;
he bowled quite a few balls swinging in to me and on to my leg
side, so though I missed it with the bat we still ended up
getting quite a few runs down the leg side, which is quite
important. He has a straight one, but he doesn't really have one
that goes away from the bat to the right-hander. He has one that
he rolls his finger across and it goes straight across the line.
Wickramasinghe I thought bowled very well. He bowled back of a
length; a tall guy, gets good bounce and his line was impeccable
for two or three overs. I know Alistair also found it very hard
to get him away. But otherwise he wasn't swinging it a lot; he
just banks on hitting the seam. The only real seam bowler is
Chaminda Vaas.
Then there was the first-change seamer, Pushpakumara: the odd
times he swings it away, but that's only early doors - I didn't
really face too much of him early on. When I did come to face
him the shine had gone, so he was basically just up and down. He
hit the seam as well, and looks a good bowler, especially on a
livelier pitch.
Jayawardene I think is not a bad spinner either; just varies his
pace but didn't turn it much. Upul Chandana looks like quite a
reasonable leggie; he's got the one that goes straight as well as
the normal leggie - didn't bowl any googlies or anything like
that. He turned it a lot more today [Sunday] than he did
yesterday, but he wasn't too hard to face.
JW: Did you do much chatting with your partners while you were
out there?
SC: Yes, I had to do a lot of it myself, because although we had
chatted a lot before the game I hadn't been playing and hadn't
faced them for quite a while, so it was quite important to have a
lot of communication. I find the guys do talk a lot and really
encourage each other, and I find this a big factor.
When I bat with someone like Andy Flower, he often asks me, for
example, "This guy Chandana's on; where are you going to hit him?
How are you going to play him?" Or for example Jayasuriya: I'll
tell Andy straight away that Jayasuriya's got those full, almost
yorker-length balls, almost arm balls, and I'm definitely going
to hit him straight, to mid-on or mid-off; if he bowls a slower
one I'm going to back myself to slog-sweep him, which is one of
my attacking shots - otherwise I'll just sweep him on the ground.
We always discuss things like that, and Andy's quite positive
and if he thinks it'll work he says, "Go for it."
For example, that one over where I got 16 I said, "I'm going to
take this guy on," because we were going really slowly, and
Alistair, whom I was batting with then, was really positive and
said, "Yes, back yourself; it's good stuff. Where are you going
to hit him?" So it's good, and you've got to communicate all the
time.
JW: What was it like coming off the field after scoring your
unbeaten century?
SC: I think the players were quite annoyed because I didn't lift
my bat towards them! But it was a great feeling, with everyone
clapping and even standing, so it's a great honour. Everything
was happening around me so fast I didn't have time to lift my bat
to everyone. But they were just joking around; every player came
and said, "Well done; that was an excellent innings," and they
were really chuffed, and every Sri Lankan shook my hand at the
end and said, "Excellent batting; good innings and well batted."
JW: I don't know how much you remember of the Sri Lankan
innings; you may have just been on too much of a high to think
about what was going on then!
SC: One thing was for sure - my legs were very tired! This
morning I woke up and I found it very hard to get my legs going.
I think today my feet were probably a bit lazy. But the saddest
thing was that we lost the game. If we could only have won, that
would have been an even better day. It would have made us 2-1,
and if we had won this game again today it would have been
two-all in the series.
I don't want to put all the blame on certain people, but our
bowlers didn't bowl as well as they should have. I know that in
that first fifteen overs they had something like 68 or 70 runs
for only one wicket. It was sad that they bowled both sides of
the wicket and were worked away quite easily.
Kaluwitharana is a short guy and he's very quick to pull; he's
very good off the back foot and cuts very well. I think he's a
very good player, and he's got that extra-cover drive so you
cannot give him any width because he'll put it away. I thought
he was definitely the most impressive batsman yesterday. I see
Jayasuriya has been struggling; he's got himself out a lot of the
time and I don't think he's scored any big runs, but I know he's
a good player.
I thought Russel Arnold was a very good player as well. He
strokes the ball very hard, seems to back himself a lot.
Atapattu is technically very good, I think; he's more of a
grafter, slow off the mark, but when he gets going he can be
quite devastating. You're going to get those different players
in different sides; for example, Kaluwitharana is attacking,
Jayasuriya can be very attacking, while the other batsmen are
more grafters. They may take it slow in the beginning but have
all the shots in the end. Other players like to have all the
shots in the beginning and don't have an end!
JW: You must have had very mixed feelings yesterday evening.
SC: Definitely. As I say, it was sad we lost, but I had a lot
of people come up to me and say, "Well batted," and you suddenly
find a lot of the Zimbabweans are very supportive when you do
well! A lot of people called me and congratulated me, and the
family were actually more excited than I was! But as Murray
[Goodwin] was saying earlier, his only one-day hundred was the
same thing, in Sri Lanka when Zimbabwe got 230 and he got a
hundred but they lost the game. It's a real pity when you lose
games from that kind of position.
JW: You proved a lot of people wrong.
SC: Yeah, sure! I don't want to go too far into the press side,
but there's been quite a lot of trouble, and the reason why I say
it is that our results for the B side have not been in the papers
for the last two months. That's why a certain reporter
criticised me.
Ravi Shastri said to me, "You've had quite a lot of problems in
the press just recently, and what a way to answer with the bat!"
So I said, "Yes, that's why I kept quiet, and I answered in the
best way that a cricketer should do." I'm the one with the last
laugh in the end. I hope I can carry on from here and go to
greater heights.
Next I hope I'll make the tour to South Africa, so I'm going to
train a lot early January and really get focused. I'm not sure
I'll bat three again because Neil Johnson will be back, more
likely five or six; rather than be seven or eight, being a
batsman, I'd definitely like to be in the top six all the time I
play. When I'm out of form and when other fringe players like
Craig Wishart come in, I'd like to see us guys batting between
one and six, as opposed to seven or eight, because that's our job
and we need to get more specialised. Someone like Guy [Whittall]
who's a good all-rounder would be good at seven, being a bowler
as well, and maybe Andy [Flower] at five, so the less experienced
guys coming in are between two more experienced guys, and I think
that would be a better option for the Zimbabwe batting line-up.
Certainly I've got a few things to work on with my batting, but
for the guys who haven't been playing international cricket at
least we've had those B sides because it certainly does help us
to maintain our standard of play.
JW: You will have some lean times in the future, but when you do
think back to this innings and soak your memory in it so you've
something to fall back on - you've proved you can do it.
SC: That's right. I've always thought I could do it; it's just
as you say the opportunities early on. So I was really glad to
get that one opportunity. I'll definitely be watching the video
tape of the match again several times and seeing all the good
shots and the bad shots I played, and working from the tape. All
of us are going to go through bad times; we're going to have bad
form and luck's not going to go our way and we'll all get
criticised. I'm not saying I don't like getting criticised in
the paper at all, but what I don't like is when they don't have
any statistics to back it up, and everyone knows it was just so
false.
I'm going to keep out of that side; I'm just going to go on
playing my game and I hope that side improves. By all means they
can criticise us when we're doing badly, if we're not performing,
but after a long string of bad performances, not if you get a
hundred one day and nought the next, and then they criticise you
and ask why you're in the side. One-day cricket involves a lot
of risk and there could be several innings in which you get
twenties or thirties. You just have to be patient, I think, and
wait for that one time you get past 30, and make sure when you
get to 50 you reach 100.