Heath Streak back in charge

Heath Streak has recently been reappointed as captain of the Zimbabwe national team, less than a year after resigning.

The 28-year-old all-rounder handed in his resignation after the England tour last October, finding the job too stressful and feeling that he was not getting enough support from the administrators. It was quite a problem who was to replace him. Of the senior players, Andy Flower had been sacked unceremoniously after the England tour of 2000 after conflicts with the administrators; he was the players' choice as captain but he is no doubt still considered too strong a man for delicate times. Alistair Campbell did not want the job again, while Grant Flower and Guy Whittall both had problems with their personal form.

So the selectors turned to the younger players and appointed Brian Murphy. Murphy has a sharp cricket brain and showed excellent leadership qualities as captain of the national Under-19 team, but unfortunately he was lacking in personal confidence and still feeling his way at international level. Even more unfortunately, he injured a hand in Bangladesh, and although he tried to return he missed the rest of the international season.

Stuart Carlisle was the next man to accept the job, which he did with reluctance. It seems the reluctance was on both sides, as he never felt he had the confidence of the hierarchy and was reappointed at virtually the last minute on a tour-by-tour basis. He did his best and a fair job, which was appreciated by the Board, but they felt that Streak, if he was available, was a more prominent personality in the country and a more prominent figure in the game.

So Streak was offered the job again, and he felt that things behind the scenes had changed enough for him to accept. The invitation came as some small compensation for tragic events in his personal life. His family has farmed near Turk Mine in Matabeleland for four generations and Zimbabwe is the only home they have. Yet, under the current `land redistribution' scheme, they were ordered to leave the farm by 10 August, along with thousands of other white farmers, and Heath's father Denis was briefly arrested for failing to do so. The courts have given a temporary respite, but their future livelihood is in serious jeopardy.

Heath is not the only international player to suffer in this way: Sean Ervine's father was also imprisoned briefly, Dirk Viljoen's family have been removed from their farm, and the future of Guy Whittall's family farm hangs in the balance. Gary Brent and assistant coach Kevin Curran are others whose farms have been requisitioned.

Heath's personal form with the ball suffered badly during his first stint as captain. He was no longer the formidable spearhead of the Zimbabwe attack, which in consequence often looked totally toothless, most notably when South Africa toured a year ago. In contrast, his batting flourished with the responsibility.

"I worked hard after relinquishing the captaincy," he says. "That was one of the major reasons I resigned, feeling I needed to work on my game. I have put in a lot of work during the winter and hopefully I can continue where I left off last season. I felt I was regaining some of the form that I know I am capable of, and hope I can continue that trend. I know it's important for the team that I perform consistently, and I'm looking forward to the challenge. I intend to spend enough time on my personal performance to produce what is best for the team."

To the suggestion that he should concentrate on ensuring his bowling was the best he possibly could, and consider his batting a bonus, he replied, "Geoff Marsh and I have discussed that, and it's what I intend doing."

Why did he take on the captaincy again? "I think the major difference now is that there is a major support structure around me as captain, with Geoff and Kev Curran there. We have a good professional management now and the administration side of the game is a lot better and more professionally run now. I think there is a lot more help for the captain, so hopefully I can focus on my own game as well as strategy and team aspects, and spend enough time with the coach to work out things on the field. Things are run much more professionally now under Vince Hogg as managing director.

"After the Board AGM in July, where they discussed the issue of captaincy, the Board and coaching staff asked me if I would rethink the matter of captaincy. After a few meetings and discussions with the Board and the convener of selectors and coaching staff, I decided to take the challenge. I look forward to working with the guys and with Geoff."

Is he satisfied with all the changes that have been made? "I think there's a lot that's working in the right direction and the trend is a good one. We just need to keep improving the player-administrator relations and realize we're planning together and need to pull in the right direction. Certainly things are looking positive - there have been some very positive moves by the ZCU, with appointments of people like marketing managers within proper marketing structures. We now have public relations and media affairs people, and committees set up to arbitrate on player issues. There has been another look at the structure of our domestic cricket - I think four first-class teams is a fantastic idea - and also a provincial one-day tournament.

"I think these are all very positive steps. They now have provincial managers, running cricket at a provincial level, and we are now having players contracted to provinces. I think those are all steps in the right direction. I see the trend as a good one; the players are fortunate to have all these positive steps and I hope they can justify them by going out and focusing on the games without having to worry about issues off the field. The guys can concentrate on playing and the administrators on running the game, but with input from players and players representatives."

Heath spent the off-season taking a break and resting a niggling foot injury, which has given him no more trouble. "Then we just worked on our base fitness with Malcolm Jarvis, and the guys are a lot fitter at the beginning of this season now," he says. "That's a plus for us. We also worked on specific skills with our bowling, batting and fielding. Now we've got into some match practice, so we're nice and fresh after a bit of a break and raring to go."