Wisdom Siziba: updated biography

FULL NAME: Wisdom Thomas Siziba
BORN: At Bulawayo, 26 October 1980
MAJOR TEAMS: Matabeleland (1999/2000), CFX Academy (2000/01)
KNOWN AS: Wisdom Siziba
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Wicket-keeper
OCCUPATION: CFX Academy student

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: 10-12 March 2000, Matabeleland v Manicaland, at Harare Sports Club
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: Still awaited

BIOGRAPHY (February 2001)

Wisdom Siziba, one of the products of the township development scheme in Zimbabwe, shares in a rare record in first-class cricket. He is only the tenth player in the entire history of the first-class game to carry his bat, as an opening batsman, through a complete innings on his debut.

This he achieved in Matabeleland's first Logan Cup match of the 1999/2000 season, played against Manicaland on neutral ground at Alexandra Sports Club in Harare. He batted for exactly four hours to score 40 not out of a team total of 150, but his effort was not enough to save the match. He showed great determination and powers of concentration, and a good defence, but few attacking strokes. Later in the season, against the CFX Academy at Country Club, he recorded his first fifty, an innings that took him 230 minutes and 196 balls.

Wisdom owes his interest in cricket to his grade five teacher at junior school, Nicholas Sisingo, who invited him to come along in the afternoons and learn how to play. Nicholas has guided him throughout his career, at high school and at club and Matabeleland practices, sometimes helping him with transport as well, as it is difficult for Wisdom to travel the long distances from the high-density suburb in Bulawayo where he lives to the club grounds.

After leaving school Wisdom did not take up regular employment, preferring to live on a presumably meagre income doing part-time coaching for the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. His normal daily programme was to train in the mornings and coach at schools in the western townships of Bulawayo during the afternoon, and attending club and Matabeleland practices. He attended trials for the national Under-19 team in 1999, but did not win selection.

Derrick Townshend, the Matabeleland manager, paid tribute to Wisdom's dedication, describing how he often had to catch several buses to travel the 15 or so kilometres required, an attribute sadly lacking in many more affluent Matabeleland players. He played for the Bulawayo Sports Club, but most of their matches were in the lower leagues. However, he was noticed and chosen for a Matabeleland development side, and his 149 against the McDonald Club second team doubtless helped to propel him into the Matabeleland side. He only learned of his selection for the match in Harare through his friend Clement Mahachi, then a student at the CFX Academy. He did not even have a good bat to play with, and before the match the Matabeleland Cricket Association bought him a new one.

Wisdom scored just three runs in the first innings and felt he had allowed himself to be distracted by the talking in the field. He determined that he would not make the same mistake second time round, when Matabeleland went in again 59 runs ahead. "I took my patience, my concentration and said I am not going to get out," he says. "That's what Mr Townshend told me; he said, `I want you to bat through to lunch,' and that's what I did, I batted through to lunch. When he came at lunch he said, `I want you to bat to tea,' and I did, through my concentration and patience."

Wisdom pays tribute to the help he has received from Heath Streak and Bill Flower, father of Andy and Grant, in his batting. Heath bowled very fast at him, but he told Wisdom not to hide, but to be patient, play the short balls down and when the bowler pitches up to place the ball in the gap. Bill encouraged him to look for singles, to work the ball around the field and keep the score moving, although he did not find that easy in Logan Cup cricket.

Wisdom was a natural selection for the CFX Academy in 2000/01, Nicholas Sisingo again encouraging him to apply, and he began with a sound forty against Mashonaland at Harare Sports Club. The development of his game was obvious, as he showed much greater ability to work the ball around and keep the score moving, even on a pitch and outfield that made scoring difficult. "I was working very hard during the off-season," he said. "I was trying hard to score off each and every ball, and when the season started I started scoring runs."

Former Academy players Mecury Kenny and Sanyo Nyakutse gave him a great deal of help and advice, and helped him develop his pull and cut in particular. But Wisdom soon realized that these were not profitable strokes under the prevailing conditions, and concentrated instead on picking up ones and twos by careful placement of the ball. "Eddo [Brandes] was swinging the ball a lot and bowling very straight. I said to myself, I am just going to stay here, I am going to play my shots. If he bowls short I will pull him, but I will keep my shot selection to what I am good at doing."

The Academy had begun their year with a retreat in the Chimanimani Mountains, on Zimbabwe's eastern border, and Wisdom told of what he learned there. "We were told that when you walk out to bat, you have to be focused, you have to concentrate. We watched a tape of Vivian Richards, and I told the guys I want to be like him. I played against Zimbabwe A and scored 24, and it was a tough game, with the bowlers moving the ball."

Wisdom has not yet scored many runs in one-day cricket, admitting that he is too slow. "It seems that I'm a Test player, but it's coming now," he says. Wisdom's hallmarks are dedication and commitment, and it will be interesting to see how far they will get him in the game.