The 2nd Test and the Logan Cup: Zimbabwe Cricket online editorial
Another week, another Test match - and another heavy defeat by Zimbabwe
John Ward
30-Mar-2000
Another week, another Test match - and another heavy defeat by
Zimbabwe. It was a familiar story, too, of competing very well
up to a point but being unable to sustain the pressure.
Once again it was the eighth wicket that swung the match against
Zimbabwe. That particular wicket time and again has proved to be
Zimbabwe's nemesis, the point at which they lose their grip.
Most notably we had Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq adding a
world Test record 313 for it just over three years ago. Then
this season we had Steve Waugh and Damien Fleming for Australia,
and Mark Boucher and Shaun Pollock for South Africa recording
century partnerships for the eighth wicket that took the match
out of Zimbabwe's reach. Now we have Jimmy Adams and Franklyn
Rose doing the same thing for the West Indies.
Then, of course, came another pathetic batting performance in the
second innings. If Andy Flower fails, the whole team seems to
collapse. The tragedy is that until that eighth-wicket stand,
though, Zimbabwe were doing so very well. We have proved time
and again that we have the ability to do well. We need to prove
again that we have the ability to see the job through until the
match is won. Our players need to bite the bullet and remember
afresh that cricket is played primarily in the head. We will not
win matches regularly until the heads are right, and they clearly
are not at present.
One positive bonus from the match was the return to form of
Murray Goodwin - century in the first innings before being run
out, and only bowled by a magnificent ball in the second. He is
a tough-minded player who has inexplicably been unable time and
again to build on a good start for a whole year now. He has
finally broken that barrier, and hopefully it will stay broken.
Other questions need to be asked about the batting. Grant Flower
and Alistair Campbell are both class players, but can we afford
to play them both when they are so badly out of form? And the
question needs to be answered about Grant's opening partner. One
cannot fathom the logic of using Neil Johnson to open in the
First Test when Trevor Gripper was in the team, and yet it seems
Gripper himself is not really ready for Test cricket. He hit a
fine sixty against Australia, but has done nothing since. Gavin
Rennie has proved the most reliable of Grant's partners over the
years, but he was dropped after one unlucky match against Sri
Lanka. Craig Wishart had a great match against India just over a
year ago when Grant was injured, but has only been given one
chance as opener since, on a bowler's pitch against Sri Lanka.
But how can any opener settle down when he knows he is unlikely
to get a good run in the team? Since the Harare Test against
South Africa, Grant has gone in with, in turn, Gripper, Rennie,
Gripper, Wishart, Johnson and Gripper again. A change every
time.
On the domestic front, the Logan Cup goes into its final round
this weekend with nobody certain and everybody in with a chance,
except perhaps holders Matabeleland, of a place in the final
beginning on 7 April. Manicaland hold pole position as the only
team with two victories, but their programme is finished.
Mashonaland, after some erratic performances, beat Matabeleland
last weekend and will probably prove too strong for Midlands this
time, although a surprise by the latter could win them a final
berth. The CFX Academy may well make the final if they beat the
youthful Matabeleland team.
This Logan Cup competition can already be classed as a resounding
success. Many players are having their first real experience of
three-day cricket and are thus on a steep upwards learning curve.
The competition has been dominated by a few players who are
clearly a class above the rest, and many players are not yet of
first-class standard - some it must be stated never will be - but
this is a start. Manicaland and Midlands have been introduced to
first-class competition for the first time, and it is arousing
great interest in both these areas.
Clearly it would be good for the second level of Zimbabwe cricket
for the competition to remain as it is in future years, without
the Test players, who come mainly from Mashonaland if they are
batsmen and Matabeleland if they are bowlers. The way it was
constituted seems to show that this was the original plan. But
the problem remains: what about enough three-day match practice
for the Test players? They were plunged into matches against the
two strongest teams in the world this season without adequate
first-class practice, and paid the penalty. They need to play
themselves into form before a Test series, and did not have the
opportunity to do so, as they were instead slogging it about in
one-day tournaments in Singapore and Kenya. Some careful
planning is necessary in future to ensure that they get the
quality practice in the middle they need.