Andy Blignaut - a short biography
MAJOR TEAMS: Mashonaland (1997/98- )
John Ward
27-Oct-1999
FULL NAME: Arnoldus Mauritius Blignaut
BORN: 1 August 1978, at Harare
MAJOR TEAMS: Mashonaland (1997/98- ). Present club team:
Alexandra Sports Club
KNOWN AS: Andy Blignaut (pronounced "Blih-nout". Nicknames:
Blidge, Bloodclot (from Brian Lara at Warwickshire, who thought
he had one on the brain!)
BATTING STYLE: Left Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Fast Medium
OCCUPATION: Student at Zimbabwe Cricket Academy
FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: 28 August 1997, Mashonaland A v Mashonaland,
at Harare South Country Club
TEST DEBUT: Not yet
ODI DEBUT: 2 September 1999, Zimbabwe v West Indies, at
Singapore
BIOGRAPHY (October 1999)
Will Andy Blignaut become Zimbabwe's answer to Lance Klusener?
He certainly hopes so, and recent batting performances by the
left-hander who is played mainly for his pace bowling seem to
indicate that the potential is there.
Like Klusener, Andy (as he is known rather than by his given name
of Arnoldus) grew up on a farm. The Blignaut family has had a
beef cattle farm near Chivhu since 1920 and Andy's birthplace of
Harare only happened because his parents drove into the capital
to take advantage of the better facilities there when he was
born. Their surname had its origins with the French Huguenots
who mixed with the Afrikaners in South Africa over the years.
Andy was a natural ball player since his earliest days, and as
far back as he can remember he used to spend hours playing with a
ball, whether cricket, soccer or rugby. He was born during the
war years in Zimbabwe and so was assigned a slightly older black
boy from the farm who looked after him when his parents were
otherwise occupied. They became fast friends and grew up doing
everything together, including playing ball games -- only the
friend's cricket career did not develop! The cricket ball was
not actually as much in evidence as the larger variety.
Living on a farm as he did, Andy had to attend boarding school
and Ruzawi, near Marondera, with its strong cricketing
traditions, was an excellent choice. He was introduced formally
to cricket when in Grade 3, and his obvious ability meant that he
spent most of his time playing with an older age group. He was
primarily a batsman until the age of 16, making a reputation for
himself from the start as a slogger with a good eye for the ball
who could hammer the inaccurate schoolboy bowling all over the
field. At first his big hits were mostly on the leg side, but he
later learnt to play straighter, as the original Klusener does.
He scored his first fifty in Grade 4 and his first century in
Grade 7 in the national primary schools cricket week, playing for
Eastern Districts against Matabeleland. It was scored in very
quick time and he already had a reputation for hitting sixes. He
duly won a place in the national primary schools side that year;
he also made the primary schools rugby team as a hooker.
He did bowl as well, always at pace. In Grade 3 he remembers
running up and throwing as hard as he could, until he was taught
to keep his arm straight. In Grade 4 he had developed enough to
take a hat-trick in a school match. Although he is over six foot
tall now, he was small and light until he achieved a sudden
growth spurt at the age of 17, which made his early hitting feats
and fast bowling more remarkable.
He spent his first three years at high school at Falcon College,
near Esigodeni in Matabeleland, the nursery of so many of
Zimbabwe's Test cricketers. He found more intensive coaching
there and continued to play as an all-rounder, batting at number
three, his regular position until he played first-team cricket at
the age of 16, and opening the bowling. He has no great memory
for his performances, but can recall some feats.
At the age of 14 he hit five sixes in an over, slogged on the leg
side, against St John's College, before trying to hit the final
ball straight and being caught on the boundary. The previous
year he had taken his best-ever bowling return of seven for seven
against the same opposition. He was also 14 when he recorded the
highest score of his career to date, 146 against Plumtree School.
He also gained selection for the national Under-15 team, as well
as playing national rugby and hockey. Earlier he had made his
first cricket tour, for a Mashonaland Districts Under-13 team
that toured England and Wales. He remembers scoring 82 not out
in one match and taking seven wickets, including a hat-trick, in
a match against a team from Hastings.
In Form 4 he moved to Eaglesvale School in Harare, which was
nearer home, and soon after that started growing rapidly. He was
wisely advised to abandon his pace bowling temporarily for fear
that his body might not be able to handle the strain at this
stage, and so took to bowling leg-spin for a year. He had
considerable success in his new style, and when his body filled
out some people advised him to stick with leg-breaks. His heart
was in pace bowling, however, and he soon returned to his old
style. Bowling for him has always come naturally and he received
little coaching in his early years, although he has picked up
tips from others.
He was by now playing for the school first team in cricket,
hockey (his favourite sport in those years), tennis and squash,
only missing out on rugby because he was too small -- that came
later as well. He admits he did not find much time for
schoolwork in those years; he had very little academic interests,
although he did pass his O-levels.
He continued to win selection for national age-group cricket
teams, touring South Africa with the Under-18 team and being in
the squad, although ultimately not travelling, for the Under-19
tour of England in 1997. He left school at the end of 1996 and
spent most of the following year coaching at Ruzawi, having kept
in touch with his old school. He also played club cricket for
the first time, joining Harare Sports Club for whom he played
until leaving to join Alexandra Sports Club for the current
season.
His promise as a club player was clear enough to win him quick
promotion. He made his first-class debut at the start of the
1997/98 season for Mashonaland A in their Logan Cup match against
the full Mashonaland side and took three expensive wickets, those
of Test players Grant Flower, Andy Flower (after scoring 201) and
Glenn Bruk-Jackson. He then went straight into the Mashonaland
team to play the New Zealand tourists; he did not get too much
bowling to do but did take two wickets. His bowling was
progressing faster at this stage than his batting, which was
still struggling to adjust. He also played several matches for
the Zimbabwe Board XI in the UCBSA Bowl competition under the
captaincy of Trevor Penney, but his only performances of note
were innings of 31 and 47 not out against Free State B.
He spent the year of 1998 working on the family farm, apart from
the winter when he played for Solihull in the English West
Midlands and trained with the Warwickshire county team, Trevor
Penney being his contact. He enjoyed a successful season there,
mostly with the bat, scoring several centuries and a total of
about 900 runs, but doing less bowling; he rates the league as
being about second-league standard in Harare. He also performed
twelfth-man duties at times for the county side, and particularly
remembers being called on to field at Lord's against Middlesex
and taking a good catch as substitute. Another important
experience was being called on to bowl in the nets at Edgbaston
before the Test match between England and South Africa, when he
realised for the first time that he had the ability to get Test
batsmen out.
During the 1998/99 season he won a place in the Zimbabwe Cricket
Academy, which took care of his immediate future. On the field
of play he played first-class cricket for Zimbabwe A and
Mashonaland without distinguishing himself and had a little more
success for the Board XI, which won the UCBSA Division 2
competition that year, scoring useful runs and taking five for 70
against Gauteng B. He also had a spell of coaching with Dennis
Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation in Madras; Lillee assured him
that he had the right action for a bowler of genuine pace, but he
himself feels that to accomplish this he needs more coaching and
much hard work in the gym. In the national club league he took
14 wickets for Harare Sports Club, although getting little
opportunity with the bat, and it was perhaps this factor more
than any other which led to his selection for national duties at
the start of the 1999/2000 season.
He began this season by touring with the national side to
Singapore and Kenya for two one-day tournaments, mainly for the
experience, but he also played in three of the five matches. He
had what he called a 'baptism of fire' against the West Indies in
Singapore. He was kept back until the match was almost over,
being Zimbabwe's seventh bowler used, but felt he was bowling
well until Ricardo Powell came in and got after him, hitting him
for two sixes. He had a better chance against India, coming on
as first change and taking two wickets, including that of Rahul
Dravid.
He found Singapore very humid and had difficulty in adjusting to
the environment there. The West Indian match was the first he
had played in front of a large crowd, and he felt spurred on by
the noise and excitement.
In Kenya he had less opportunity, with the conditions there
tending to favour batsmen on flat pitches, and spin bowlers
rather than pace. He played in only the first match, against
Kenya, and bowled only a single over. In his three one-day
innings he scored only one run, had clearly not adjusted yet, and
so was omitted from the following two matches.
This was only a temporary setback, though, and he returned to
enjoy great success in domestic cricket, especially with the bat.
He scored three centuries in quick succession, 130 against
North-West in the Bowl competition, and for his new club
Alexandra against Manicaland and Winstonians. He was then
selected for all three one-day internationals against the touring
Australians.
He took only two wickets in the matches, but no bowler enjoyed
much success in a Zimbabwean attack weakened by injury and loss
of form to key players. His bowling was no more than adequate,
and at times he needed to learn how to bowl better to his field.
He found his confidence with the bat, hitting two useful twenties
of contrasting character. In the first match he showed a
willingness to attack the renowned Australian bowlers, hitting
three sixes at Bulawayo in his 27, and in the second match he
batted very responsibly as Zimbabwe struggled and sank on a pitch
overly helpful to seam bowlers. He found playing against the
Australians a big learning experience, and saw from them how
professional and mentally tough he would have to become to win
success in international cricket.
Andy pays tribute to his father for all the encouragement he has
received from him over the years, and to Trevor Penney, who
helped him with his batting and on the mental side of the game;
he also found Penney an inspiration for his fielding, a
department of the game in which he takes great pride,
particularly at cover and point.
Barry Lake at Eaglesvale School and Dave Houghton for batting are
two others who played an important part in his development.
Dennis Lillee and Robin Jackman have both helped him with his
bowling, in particular modifying his action so as to avoid
twisting his back as he bowled and putting too much strain on it.
Ironically, though, it was a muscle spasm in his back that
possibly delayed his Test debut, as he was named in the squad to
go to Bloemfontein for the one-off Test against South Africa, but
had to withdraw. Other injuries have at times also handicapped
his career, but to date he has suffered nothing very serious or
prolonged.
Andy sees his future in the game, all things being equal, as
playing a Lance Klusener role for Zimbabwe, attacking with the
bat in the lower middle order and coming on as firstor
second-change bowler. It is early days yet, but Zimbabwe will be
delighted if he can do so.