Trevor Gripper: runs in Sri lanka

Runs in Sri Lanka? There weren't many for Zimbabwe's batsman recently, but it was a comparatively inexperienced batsman, Trevor Gripper, who scored the most (167 in six innings) and also recorded the team's highest individual score of 83. This was after scoring his maiden Test century in Sri Lanka, so it was a great advance for him in his career. He talks to CricInfo about the tour.

This was my first tour to the subcontinent. The wickets there are obviously a lot slower and lower than those in Zimbabwe, and they take a hell of a lot more turn! The Bangladesh pitches were pretty flat and plumb at the start of a match, but did take turn on the fourth and fifth days.

The Sri Lanka pitches are a lot different; they take a lot more turn, even on the second and third days. Otherwise the conditions are very hot and humid. They suit Muralitharan very well, and as one of the umpires from England, David Shepherd, mentioned, he's a magician.

It was nice to get back into the Test team in Bangladesh, and obviously I want to consolidate a place in the opening spot. I think we've always had a problem with the opening position in Zimbabwe: guys are always in and out and it's not an easy job. But hopefully I can get some consistent scores in and do some good.

We needed at least one specialist spinner on tour, and I thought that was one area where we lacked. If we pick three seamers in the subcontinent and go into a match with only part-time spinners, including myself, Grant Flower and Douggie Marillier - although Douggie is a really good off-spinner - I think we're going to struggle. I don't know if Geoff Marsh tried to get them to send out any spinners for us, but I'm sure he would have done, being an experienced cricketer himself.

In the First Test in Bangladesh we got off to a nervous start, but our middle and lower order consolidated and did some real good for us, which put us into a winning position. All credit goes to Heath Streak, Douggie Marillier, Craig Wishart and Travis Friend - especially Travis, who got 81. He batted brilliantly and showed us how to bat on those pitches. I think he's got a great future in the game.

Craig Wishart was one of our top scorers in Bangladesh, but in Sri Lanka, with the spinners and the way they turn the ball there, it's not an easy thing. If you grow up with those kind of pitches, I think you'll do a lot better playing spin. We haven't grown up with that, but we learn - we're always learning in this game. I think we can take a lot of positives out of that tour.

Our bowlers bowled very well in that First Test, and Travis again got a five-fer. He bowled really well and so did Heath, who was unlucky, just taking two wickets. Henry Olonga also bowled very well to take three, but the match was rained off.

Then in the Second Test my first Test century - I suppose it's a dream everyone wants. When I started off the morning, it looked a very decent pitch. We weren't sure how it would actually play, as we had heard it does a bit in the morning, so we were prepared to stick out the first hour.

We actually lost the toss and were put in to bat. In the first hour it didn't do a hell of a lot. They do have a good seam attack, with Mashrafe Mortaza quite a quick bowler who swings the ball late; he's got a good future in the side. But the pitch proved really plumb and once you got through the new ball it was relatively easy to stay in, although it was harder to score because it was such a slow pitch. I thought we did really well to score over 500.

I got to 50 before lunch - the first time in my career! - and was feeling quite confident playing the spinners. My attitude towards batting has changed a hell of a lot. I've put in a lot more work on my shot-making and, with the help of Geoff Marsh who I think is a really good coach, we can only go from strength to strength.

After lunch I looked to consolidate and formed some good partnerships with Stuey Carlisle, Grant Flower and Andy Flower. I felt pretty determined to get that hundred. Craig Wishart also enjoyed his first Test century, after getting in the nineties a couple of times and then being unluckily run out.

Then in the second innings I scored all 11 runs to win the Test match! I have to say that was almost as good as my century! That was the first Test match I've ever played in that we won, and it was another very good moment. After we lost Dion Ebrahim and Stu, that 11 runs seemed a long way away, but once we got them it was a great feeling.

Dion batted really well in the one-dayers and got a hundred and an eighty. I got into that side; like I said, I've improved and I also want to consolidate my place in the one-day side. Obviously I'm still new to the one-day game, especially on the international arena, but I think I can play both forms of the game and I look forward to a future in it.

We set a goal to win the one-day series three-nil, and we did. I think we batted generally well, and again Craig Wishart batted exceptionally well, getting most of our runs. Dion did really well, and got us a hundred in one match and eighty-odd in another. He looked in really good touch, but in Sri Lanka he struggled for runs. The seamers there are not easy to play, but they're easier than the spinners on those pitches. Against the spin it's not an easy task.

Hamilton Masakadza came back into the team for the Tests in Sri Lanka and it was unlucky for Dion to lose his place. He showed good form in the one-dayers, but he played in a warm-up game and didn't get any runs, and I think he got dropped for that.

Hamilton coming back boosted our batting line-up a bit in terms of confidence, and Gavin Rennie as well. I think Muralitharan struggles a bit against left-handers and Gavin had a really good tour. Murali was the only one who did the real damage, getting 30 wickets in all three Tests. As I said, he's like a magician and he's going to win Sri Lanka a lot more games in the future.

Hamilton handled the conditions pretty well; it was his first tour, like it was my first tour, and you have to have the right mind-set. You can't think you'll go out there and score a lot of runs quickly as you can do here in Zimbabwe on a flat pitch with a lot of bounce. Sri Lanka have a good seam attack in Zoysa and Vaas, before Muralitharan and the other spinners come on.

I think Andy Flower, being the greatest batsman in Zimbabwe, has different pressures on him to other guys in the team, and I have no doubt that class is permanent and form is temporary. In his case, he's the classiest player we've got and I have no doubt he will be back again scoring runs as soon as possible.

We also had a few unlucky decisions go against us in all three Tests and we have to take that into account. When you have a limited resource of players such as we have, when you lose a couple of batsmen to unlucky decisions that can change a game. I think we all got some rough decisions there.

I think Geoff Marsh is definitely going to take us places as a coach. He has good man-management and he knows a lot about the game.

In the Second Test - well, I got a lot of twenties and thirties that I could have converted into fifties and hundreds, but again Muralitharan in the first two Tests got me out all four times. I would survive the first five overs against the seamers and then get out when Murali came on.

He's got it all as a bowler: he has his big turner, the off-spinner, and then the straight one and the one that goes the other way. I think all round the world batsmen battle to pick the one that goes the other way. When he's bowling like that, pitching on a good length, if you nick it or get a `roughie' you can only count yourself unlucky. But the fact remains that I have to turn those twenties and thirties into higher scores.

Batting against Muralitharan, we looked to cover off stump and I personally looked to play the line of the ball instead of the turn, and if it was going to hit me outside the line obviously I can't be given out. You just have to be patient with that one that goes the other way. I think in the last Test we showed patience against him, when the ball was turning a lot more than in the other Tests. I think that frustrated him, the fact that the ball was turning too much and he couldn't control the turn.

But I think he's going to get 600 wickets fairly soon. In Sri Lanka especially he's going to bowl almost half their overs in an innings, so I'd expect him to take that many five-fers and that many ten-fers in Test cricket.

After losing the First Test, we had to try and devise a plan on how to win the Second Test, and I think in a sense we looked to score against Muralitharan instead of just biding our time. I personally looked to score off him and got out trying to do that. That's the way cricket goes sometimes.

It's a tough tour to Sri Lanka, and I don't think any side is going to go there and roll the Sri Lankans. They said it themselves: they are the best side in the world in their own conditions, and I don't doubt that - with Muralitharan in the side! Without him, I think we'd at least have secured some draws, but without him in their side I think they would have prepared different tracks with perhaps a bit more grass to suit their seamers. They do have a world-class seam attack in Zoysa and Vaas, and I'm sure they're going to do very well on overseas pitches, outside the subcontinent. Obviously with Muralitharan in your side you are going to prepare pitches for him! Pitches can win you Test matches.

We had a great start at Galle. They won the toss and batted first, and got off to what they would have regarded as a shaky start. Then they consolidated with their lower order, Chandana getting 92, and got quite a decent first-innings score of over 400. In the first two days the bowling on that pitch went quite well, Douggie Marillier doing really well with four wickets.

We got off to quite a solid start as well with our batting, and Stuey and I scored 153 for the first wicket. But again we have to turn them into hundreds, and big hundreds, especially on those pitches. Then we had a collapse and one of us had to bat through there. I'm not too sure how it came about that Stuey came to open with me, but that's up to the management. He has opened before in Test matches, so it's not a new thing for him.

Again, the spinners did the damage. Like I said, Murali turned the ball a lot more in Galle than in other places, and in that Test he almost turned it too much; he wouldn't get the lbw decisions and he was beating the bat two balls each over. So for him it was frustrating. And as the pitch grew worse and worse, they turned the ball even more and more. They got it right in our second innings and went right through us.

For most of us, it was our first tour to the subcontinent and I think we can take a lot of positives in our batting. In our bowling, when we go to that part of the world I think reverse swing is a necessary weapon for our seamers. We need to master that; their seamers reverse-swing the ball more than we did and knew how to control it better.

I think Sangakkara is one of their better batsmen; he's got a good technique. Marvin Atapattu has a high average against us, another with a good technique, but he had a lean tour against us. Another guy who did really well against us is Samaraweera, a batsman who can also bowl off-spin. He got a lot of runs in the series.

There's always going to be a lot of verbal banter on the field - it happens in Test match cricket. Off the field we got on pretty well; I don't think we have any problems with the Sri Lankans. But obviously with a few umpiring decisions that didn't go our way we got a bit grumpy at times.

I think our team gelled really well together. I think Geoff Marsh has brought in a lot of new ideas and as a team we are definitely getting it together.

I can't take anything for granted personally right now regarding my batting, but I can only take it tour by tour. About six months ago I thought I'd never play for Zimbabwe again, and when I came back from England I was in the side after four weeks. So you can never tell.