Brian Murphy: Biography

FULL NAME: Brian Andrew Murphy BORN: 1 December 1976, at Salisbury MAJOR TEAMS: Young Mashonaland (1995/96), Western Province (1997/98), Mashonaland A (2000/01) KNOWN AS: Brian Murphy. Nickname: Murphs BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat BOWLING STYLE: Leg Breaks and Googlies OCCUPATION: Professional cricketer

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: Young Mashonaland v Mashonaland Country Districts, at Alexandra Sports Club, 15-17 September 1995 TEST DEBUT: Zimbabwe v West Indies, at Port-of-Spain, 16-20 March 2000 ODI DEBUT: Zimbabwe v Pakistan, at St John's (Antigua), 5 April 2000

BIOGRAPHY (updated April 2001)

It was with surprise and relief that Zimbabwe cricket followers noted the name of Brian Murphy in the touring party for the West Indies at the end of the 1999/2000 season. Brian had been at Cape Town University for several years and seemed to be settled down there permanently, another promising player lost to Zimbabwe cricket.

The selectors were in a desperate situation: Paul Strang was injured, Adam Huckle permanently retired, Andrew Whittall lacking penetration and Ray Price lacking experience. They took a gamble in deciding to invite leg-spinning all-rounder Brian, who had played for Western Province as an overseas player and was qualifying as a local player. Brian responded, and during the next year was to play cricket in all the then Test-playing countries except for Pakistan and Bangladesh. He looks set for a notable future in international cricket, and it may be that Adam Huckle did Zimbabwe cricket an unintentional favour after all when he abruptly walked out on the game.

Brian comes from a sporting family, but the concentration was on rugby rather than cricket. His father, also Brian, played rugby for Rhodesia, as it then was, between 1969 and 1975; he also played odd matches for a World XI and after his retirement became a leading local rugby coach. Brian senior did also play cricket, and still does for a social team in Harare.

Brian junior, along with his twin brother David, first played cricket with their father in their garden in Harare, learning the game more formally at St John's Preparatory School. At Grade 5 age he won a place in the school colts team and then had two years in the senior side. He was twice chosen for the Harare Schools team to play in the national primary schools week, but did not make the national side. He played mainly as a batsman, doing little bowling at that time, and scored a couple of fifties during the week.

His game did not really take off until he went to high school, at St George's College. He was successful enough to win a place in the Fawns, the national Under-15 team, and then into his own school first team in Form 3. He played for three years in the Zimbabwe Schools team, 1993 to 1995, the last two as captain.

By now he was very much an all-rounder. In the nets while still at St John's, a teacher, Pete Webb, asked him if he could spin the ball, and he immediately found he could bowl a natural leg-spin, and bowl it well. He did not develop the gift much until he reached high school, though. Being appointed captain helped, as he was able to give himself practice in matches! He found he gradually became more accurate and feel he was lucky to develop a good set of basics at a young age, although he cannot remember anybody in particular working with him then. He also spent much time working on his spin in the nets, given the opportunity by enthusiastic coaches. He pays tribute to the St George's coach, Waqar Ali, from Pakistan, also a leg-spinner who was able to give him help. His best bowling performance was six for 26 against a Kenyan touring team, while his highest score, and also the highest of his career at any level to date, was 123 not out against Eaglesvale School, as well as another century off 52 balls against an English touring school team.

In Form 2 Brian captained the Mashonaland side at the Fawns cricket week, held at Watershed near Marondera, where he enjoyed much success, but mainly as a batsman. Chosen for the national side, he visited Windhoek to play a Namibia Under-19 team, but not South Africa, as links had not yet been fully re-established with that country. Later on, though, he went to three South African Schools weeks, at Pretoria, Durban and East London, captaining the national side in the last two years. He enjoyed only moderate success as a bowler, taking three wickets in an innings on a couple of occasions, but made a fifty against Free State in his second Week and another fifty in his third.

He had the opportunity to play club cricket while still at school, but decided not to at this stage. He did make his first-class debut in the Logan Cup, though, unsuccessfully for Young Mashonaland against Mashonaland Country Districts. Fielding first, he was bowling to Paul Strang, who hit back a ferocious drive that not only broke Brian's finger but injured his leg as well, putting him out of the rest of the match so that he was unable even to bat.

In those days Brian played several other sports, representing Zimbabwe at hockey, at swimming when he was younger, and athletics for his school. Rugby he did not play, having suffered from torn ligaments in his knee when at junior school which prevented him from making much of a start in this game.

In 1995/96, immediately after leaving school, he was selected to captain the Zimbabwean Under-19 team against the touring England Under-19s, when the inexperienced local side was seriously outclassed. His only real success as a player was 67 in the first one-day international, the other two being washed out.

Brian was accepted into university at Cape Town, to study business science, a four-year course which became five when he changed from a law to a finance course. He completed his degree at the end of 2000. He was appointed captain of the university team in his first year there. The next season, 1997/98, he made his debut for Western Province as an overseas player.

He had impressed at the end of the previous season with a regular seven or eight wickets in the two-day club matches for the university team, including a good haul against Pines Cricket Club, the team of Western Province captain Craig Matthews. He was impressed by Brian's bowling and invited him to the Western Province nets, where Duncan Fletcher was coaching, and he also showed an interest in Brian. Brian played in five four-day matches for the Province, but without much success with bat or ball; he had lost some of his best form.

This was not actually his first experience in South African inter-provincial cricket, as at the end of the previous season he played a one-day match for Mashonaland against Natal. Mashonaland had won a quarter-final against Eastern Province, but were seriously weakened in the semi-final against Natal as several leaving players had been forced to withdraw so as to honour club contracts in England. This included leg-spinning all-rounder Paul Strang, and Brian was called in to replace him. It was after this that Brian began his two-year qualification for Western Province.

Brian continued to prosper in club cricket, taking two eleven-wicket match hauls but batting at number nine so he did not have much chance with the bat, recording perhaps six fifties. He also played for three years in the South African Universities team.

During this time the Zimbabwe Cricket Union unfortunately did not follow him up much, but the players kept in touch at times. When the Zimbabwean team played in the triangular tournament in South Africa in early 2000, Brian bowled to them in the nets when they came to Newlands in Cape Town. At the end of the practice Andy Flower approached him, obviously impressed, and asked him if he would be available for the tour to the West Indies. Brian, surprised, said he would think about it, and after two or three weeks decided this was an opportunity not to be missed. It was Zimbabwe's first tour to the West Indies, and he also realized that it would be foolish to turn down the chance to play international cricket for his country. He would miss a month of studies, but he could catch them up later.

Eventually he received a 'phone call from his father to tell him his selection had been confirmed, after being notified by Dave Houghton. He flew back to Harare four days before the team was due to leave for the West Indies to join the team. He realized that he was venturing into the unknown. "I don't know what Test cricket will hold in store for me," he said. "If I like the atmosphere and if I can adapt my game quickly enough then I can't tell you honestly whether I will go back to my studies or continue cricket."

In the end he was to have his cake and eat it. The year 2000 saw him complete his degree and also establish a place in the Zimbabwe national team. "It was a really intense match situation, especially that First Test match when we lost chasing that small total," he says. This was his Test debut, when Zimbabwe needed only 99 to win but crumbled under the intense pressure of a poor pitch and superb West Indian bowling - and of being expected to win.

"It's a great place, absolutely fantastic," Brian said of the West Indies. "The people are friendly, there are brilliant sites and the public know their cricket. There is almost no margin of error at Test level, and I just had to learn to bowl and apply pressure on the batsmen to that, if the bowler at the other end was doing his job, we got wickets." He was used for much of the time to bowl round the wicket into the bowlers' footmarks, of which there were plenty on the dusty pitches there, especially to the numerous West Indian left-handers. He particularly remembers his first Test wicket, that of West Indian captain Jimmy Adams, trapped lbw by a straight ball.

Bryan made an economical but wicketless one-day debut against Pakistan before returning to university. He had not expected to play on the tour of England, but he managed to get time off from his studies to play in the two Test matches. His batting at this level was struggling, but there was enough promise for him to be selected as the team's regular nightwatchman, and to be successful at it.

Playing in the Lord's Test was the highlight for him. He reverted to more orthodox bowling here, but returned to university after the Test series, missing the one-day triangular tournament. There he stayed until November, when he was selected to tour India, New Zealand and Australia.

His main memory of India was "bowling to the best batsman in the world, Tendulkar, as well as some very good players of spin, particularly Rahul Dravid." He dismissed Tendulkar in the First Test. "I put a bit of pressure on him and he wasn't scoring a lot of runs off me. I bowled quite a long spell at him and although he had 120 I was quite happy to get him out. He was caught at backward point going for a hit through the covers. I had bowled an off-side line to him for most of that spell and finally it paid off." In the one-day arena he immediately became a regular member of the team.

Although New Zealand pitches are less helpful to spinners, the batsmen there had a perceived weakness against spin that Brian felt he could exploit. "I felt they were pretty tentative against my bowling in particular," he said. "Everything just fell into place in that [one-day] series and I was lucky to be a part of it. The batsmen there enjoy a bit of pace to hit the ball around and they didn't get any from my spin bowling."

The team moved on to Australia for the World Series triangular tournament there. "Australia for me was a very good learning experience," Brian said. "The system they have there, particularly at Sheffield Shield level, and the way they feed those players into the Test arena is very good to learn from. People who go on Australian tours learn exactly where they are in terms of ability, and from that point of view it was very good for me; very beneficial, because I got to speak to the great spin bowlers like Warne. Terry Jenner was very helpful to me, as was Ian Chappell."

The final game that Zimbabwe lost to Australia by just one run was the personal highlight for Brian. He appreciated Australian pitches the best of all the countries he has bowled in, with their extra pace and bounce and their ability to take turn from spinners who get some work on the ball.

Brian pays tribute to the former Australian leg-spinner Terry Jenner as the man who has helped him the most with his bowling. Jenner visited the Western Province and Brian was sent as one of a group to receive coaching from him. Jenner confirmed most of what Brian had been applying at the time and gave him much extra help.

"There are five balls that a leg-spinner can bowl," says Brian. "The normal leg-spinner, the top-spinner, the googly, the slide-on and the flipper. I can bowl four of those without the flipper." That remains for the future. At present he is working on bowling more side-on, to give himself a full rotation of the shoulder, and developing his googly, which at present is not very effective.

"I know that from a developmental point of view I have a long way to go," he says. "I believe the deficiencies in my action will slowly get ironed out by having the correct people look at them at the correct time, and that's why I think Australia was very good for me because it just showed me exactly where I was from a technical point of view."

In the Zimbabwe team, Brian has benefited most from Andy Flower, "because he knows what I need to work on and he's the one handling most of my balls behind the wicket."

As a batsman Brian is strong on the drive, and is more at home on the front than the back foot, although he realizes that he will need to make adjustments to that area of his technique if he is to score runs in international cricket. He rates his batting as poor at the moment, but is concentrating mainly on his bowling at present. Basically orthodox, he tends to favour the off side. He has no particular preference or ambition for a certain position in the batting order, but is prepared to take what comes to him. Realistically he feels that number six, for example, would be too high for him, but does not altogether rule out moving up in that direction in the future. His normal fielding position is at backward point, where he takes a pride in his speed and throwing.

"The three best batsmen I've bowled to are Tendulkar, Andrew Flower and Mark Waugh," Brian says. His batting experience is more limited, but the bowler in his experience he rates most highly is Glenn McGrath, "although I only faced one ball from him."

His proudest achievement in his career so far he names as captaining his country at Under-19 level. He is now on a fulltime contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and his Bachelor of Commerce degree has gone into abeyance for the time being.

Outside cricket, Brian is interested in reading, chess and watching shows with friends, as well as sport generally. He is also interested in the finance world, and sees his future career there, sooner or later. Hopefully a long and successful cricket career lies in between.