T Chesterfield: Mashonaland Now Rubbing Shoulders With The Elite (20 Dec 1996)

20 December 1996

Mashonaland are now rubbing shoulders with the elite

Spinners Tales by Trevor Chesterfield

If we are to seriously believe Wasim Akram`s list of the "world`s best teams", lowly Mashonaland now find they are rubbing shoulders with the elite.

Putting aside the suspicions emerging from a recent book dealing with ball tampering, proving that not everything the Pakistan captain says can be taken at face value, Wasim`s list is steadily growing.

Wasim`s comment that "any side beating England must be among the best in the world," will come back and haunt him. Especially when we discover that the main strike bowler in Mashonaland`s attack was none other than James Kirtley.

Kirtley`s impressive first innings haul of five wickets that laid waste to England`s batting talents was followed by a similar act of aggression in the tourists` second innings.

Kirtley? Now there`s a name to jog the memory. He was the 21- year-old tearaway from Sussex, recruited by David Graeney to play for the Test and County Cricket Board XI against the South African A at Chester-le- Street in August where he grabbed eight wickets.

So how does a Sussex fast bowler wind up opening the new ball attack for Mashonaland? Simple, really: a young man, with barely six firstclass games to his credit, Kirtley is on a winter coaching assignment in Harare and was given the chance to impress Mike Atherton.

Not that we expect the brash youngster to be rushed into the England side no matter what further disasters befall Atherton`s sorry troupe as they lined up for the first test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo yesterday. "he`s too young," and "need more experience" were a couple of the England management`s comments as they hid their embarrassment over their defeat.

After England lost to Zimbabwe last Sunday in the first onedayer, the batsmen were conspicuous by their absence after the match. They weren`t in the nets either, learning to cope with batting more than one session. Yet it is a serious malaise that seems to have infiltrated the highest levels of the game this southern summer.

Apart from Calcutta, South Africa grappled with the mental exercise of batting through a session let alone a day on the tour of India. If we look, however, at Mohammad Azaruddin`s abilities throughout the first leg of this summer`s twin test series against South Africa, the stylish Indian had no trouble negotiating two or more sessions on those alleged treacherous surfaces.

Mushtaq Mohammad, the youngest test player at 15 years and 124days when he made his debut in 1958-59 and now manager-coach in Oz with the Pakistanis has voiced concern over the way for-day matches are finishing in three days. He blames the proliferation to the one-day slog for the demise.

But it is all a question of mental and physical discipline and until that is sorted out the big scores will remain elusive for some.