Zimbabwe under-19s prepare for South African week and World cup

The team manager is Mr Win Justin-Smith, senior master at CBC (Christian Brothers College) in Bulawayo. He contributes his views on the team's progress so far and their future plans.

THREE-DAY MATCH SCORES (UNDER-19 TEAMS)

At Boksburg; 4, 5, 6 December. ZIMBABWE 167 (T Friend 39, C Ewing 33; C Burger 3/32) and 237/9 dec (G Croxford 40, M L Nkala 39, C Brewer 95; B Reddy 5/44). EASTERNS 118 (J Pienaar 35; S Ervine 3/26) and 221 (B Smith 56, E Weirich 56*). Zimbabwe won by 65 runs.

At Old Hararians Sports Club, Harare; 10, 11, 12 December. NATAL 339/6 dec (H Amla 31, M Ferreira 182, O Croxford 79*) and 0/0 dec. ZIMBABWE 0/0 dec and 169 (T Taibu 47). Natal won by 170 runs.

The first match was a Joe Partridge memorial game where we played against a pick-up team from Old Georgians, ex-pupils of St George's College. We beat them by five wickets in the end, so it was quite as easy victory as such.

The Old Georgians side batted first and their opening batsmen put on quite a few runs for the first wicket, but we got them out quite cheaply in the end for 133. Then we passed their score with about 12 overs to go.

The second game was against Easterns at Boksburg, played at the CBC ground there. We were put in to bat on a wicket that gave the bowlers a fair amount of assistance, and eight of our batsmen were caught behind or in the slip cordon. Six were by the wicket-keeper, which shows that they weren't getting their foot to the ball. The opposition thought they were doing quite well because they got us out for 167, but when we bowled to them we got them out for 118, and twenty wickets fell on the first day. Only three of their batsmen fell to catches behind the wicket, which showed that they were getting in line better - or maybe the wicket wasn't giving quite as much assistance to the bowlers.

On the second day I wasn't involved in the first part of the game because I was with Mike Munson who broke his thumb and I was sorting him out in hospital. While I was away Conan Brewer, who opened the innings in his place, scored 95, which was obviously a very good knock and set up the possibility of an eventual victory for us. We were all out around tea on the second day, giving us a lead of 286.

We managed to get six wickets down before close of play for only 88 runs, which gave us a great chance of victory on the last day. We bowled well, catches were taken and the team was well on top at that stage. The wicket now was becoming easier, especially before lunch, or else our bowlers were not bowling quite as well as they should have been; maybe they thought they were going to wrap it up very quickly, but it took us a long time to get three wickets before lunch, one of which was a run-out and the other two clean bowled. Then we got the last wicket just after lunch to give us victory eventually by 65 runs.

We returned from South Africa to play a three-day game against Natal. We won the toss and put them in to bat, which may have been a good decision because there had been rain before that. We took three wickets before lunch for 82 runs, and a fourth just after lunch. Then there was a big partnership between Ferreira, who made 182, and Croxford, who made 79 and was not out at the end. Ferreira was dropped just after lunch before he had scored many, and went on to make 182. He batted very well, scoring all over the ground, taking four sixes in one over. He really did hit the ball well, and it was orthodox batting rather than slogging.

Rain interrupted play at around four o'clock on that first day and there was no more play that day. On the second day play was entirely washed out, although the umpires made two inspections during the day. On the third morning they declared at their overnight score, then we forfeited our first innings and they followed by forfeiting their second, in order to make a game of it. So we batted in our second innings and were eventually all out for 169.

Our top order did not bat as well as they could have, although it should be appreciated that the pitch was giving more help to the bowlers, having had the rain on it. Although it had been covered, the run-ups were wet and the outfield very heavy, and balls which would normally have gone for four brought only two, or three at the most. The top order did not bat well, and we were three down for four runs at one stage.

Our captain Mluleki Nkala came in and stabilised it a bit until he went out caught in the deep. We were in serious trouble later on until the wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu came in and batted very sensibly, hitting the loose ball well and running well between wickets, before being out stumped. The game finished just after tea on the last day.

From there we have had further practices, one a day, although that has been affected by wet conditions at the nets. We fly tomorrow [Wednesday] to South Africa to take part in the annual Coca Cola Week, which will played at Potchefstroom this year. We have four games, against the A side teams, followed by a play-off for positions on the fifth day, and on the sixth day we play a South Africa Colts XI. Six days of hard cricket, 50-over games, and the boys will have to play hard down there.

We then come back for a short break over Christmas and New Year, and then are due to fly on 6 January to take part in the World Cup Under-19 tournament, which is taking place in Sri Lanka this year. We have been picked to play against West Indies, the Americas and England in our group, before the positions in the various logs will be taken into account and we will either go into the Super Six or down into the plate event.

We should have a strong side as there are six members who played in the Coca Cola Week last year, so they have gone through the tournament before and know what the situation is, and will have learnt from their experiences last year. We don't know what the other teams in the World Cup are like, but we did well last time and so should be able to be fully competitive this time.

The batting has not come off so far, especially the top-order batsmen, apart from Brewer who scored 95 against Easterns. Hopefully they will come through as there is no question that they have the talent; it's just a matter of getting in and making a good score, and getting their confidence going.

I think the opening bowlers have good experience from last year; we have two good off-spinners and a slow left-hander, but we do lack a leg-spinner, which would be a personal preference. The fielding has been good so far, although we have dropped catches that could have been vital at one stage or another; we just have to keep working on that, as we do on the rest of the outfielding.

Nkala, our captain, is obviously a key player, both as a batsman and bowler; he rates himself very highly as a batsman but is also a good bowler, I think. He is not bowling quite as fast as he used to, but he is bowling with more thought about what he is going to do. Travis Friend, the vice-captain, is also an excellent batsman and a very good bowler at medium-pace, and can be very effective cutting the ball in.

Sean Ervine I have been very impressed with, both as an opening bowler and also as a left-hand batsman. I used to know him mainly as a bowler, but I think he has matured as a batsman and has been able to score runs in every innings that I remember. So he should do well stabilising the lower order.

The top-order batsmen I think do have the talent and it's just a matter of getting their mind into gear and playing their shots. It will be a different situation obviously moving from the three-day games we have had so far to a 50-over game where a different technique is required. A batsman cannot afford to let so many balls go through but has to learn to work the ball away and keep the score ticking over as much as possible.