Zimbabwe Board XI v Natal B: Dion Ebrahim

Dion Ebrahim, the lively young number four batsman for the Zimbabwe Board XI, scored a fine 122 not out in the first innings against Natal B at Kwekwe Sports Club. He talks to John Ward about his innings.

JW: First of all, Dion, can you outline the course your career has taken since you left the CFX Academy at the end of last year?

DE: I was sent to Bulawayo to play and coach there in Matabeleland. I was selected in the Zimbabwe A squad to go to Sri Lanka but I didn't have such a good tour; in fact for me it was more of a failure than anything. I didn't manage to establish myself as a batsman in the A side. I struggled a lot with the spinners and found the conditions very difficult. But I suppose that's not an excuse for a top-order batsman.

I had a fairly decent Logan Cup season at the beginning of the year, but didn't quite do as well as I hoped, but with it being my first Logan Cup season I was happy to record my highest first-class score which was 76 not out against Manicaland.

I'm now back in Mashonaland playing for Universals and coaching. I had expected to be in Matabeleland for two years, but when I signed the new players' contract, they now allow the player to choose which province he wants to play for. I felt that a move to Mashonaland would benefit my career as a player due to the fact that the facilities and quality in Bulawayo weren't quite up to the standard I was requiring. I felt my own standard of cricket was actually dropping tremendously quickly during my stay in Bulawayo.

JW: Have you played on this ground before?

DE: Yes, many times. I made my first-class debut on this field for the Academy against Sri Lanka last year, but I haven't had much success here actually. I think this weekend was my first success.

JW: What are your impressions of the ground and the facilities?

DE: Kwekwe has always been a good ground because the staff here have always gone out of their way to make sure the facilities are good and the players are looked after well. It's the same again this weekend and everything is in tip-top condition.

JW: When did the teams arrive here in preparation for the match?

DE: We arrived on Wednesday, and Natal arrived the same day, in the afternoon. We just came to the ground and had a quick fielding session, with the match starting on Thursday.

JW: I see we won the toss and batted.

DE: Yes - a good win by the captain [Gavin Rennie]!

JW: Now can you talk your way through the Board XI innings, please, especially your role in it?

DE: We did get off to a very good start, with Gavin and Trevor Gripper scoring 81 together and putting on the foundation that we needed. Then the loss of two quick wickets put us on the back foot for a while as Trevor and myself decided to consolidate and put on a partnership, which we did quite effectively. Then Trevor went out on 84 after looking well on the way to his ton, and I think I was on about 20.

We were really going well, and then Greg Lamb and myself got off to a good start together. Unfortunately he was stumped in an odd sort of manner, a late call by the umpire. Then Tatenda Taibu and myself shared a very good partnership - he got a quick 39 and we were really going well, with good running between the wickets. After that I didn't manage to build much of a partnership with anyone else lower down the order, which left our total about 50 runs short of what we had hoped for. We didn't manage to bat through, and our last five wickets fell in a bit of a hurry when we were looking to stay in there and build partnerships. We were looking for 400 on this wicket but weren't quite up to scratch.

There was a lot of sunshine but just towards the end of the innings the clouds started to build up, and there was a bit of controversy because when myself and the last three batsmen were in we appealed against the light, but the umpires didn't grant it. It was quite difficult to pick up the ball, and they had just taken the new ball and their seamers were back on. But as soon as our last three wickets fell, we came out to field and the umpires offered the light to their batsmen straight away. Maybe we could have put on a few more runs if the light had been given, but I suppose that's cricket.

JW: How did you get most of your runs?

DE: A lot of running between the wickets, ones, twos and threes. I think my fitness training and sprint training pre-season didn't fail me. I didn't get many boundaries.

JW: Can you remember any shots that gave you particular satisfaction?

DE: Really only the shot to get me my hundred! I don't remember many of my other shots. It's been my highest score for quite a while, especially at this high level, so that was certainly my most memorable shot! It was off the left-arm orthodox spinner Power and it just went through the vacant midwicket area for two. I don't really have any favourite shot, but I just looked at getting the runs, and it paid off this week.

JW: How did you rate the Natal bowlers?

DE: On this wicket I felt their seamers bowled the wrong line and length; they bowled a bit too wide and short on it. We were able to leave a lot of it. It's a big spinning wicket and their spinners did get a lot of turn, but they bowled the odd bad ball too often.

JW: And when Natal batted?

DE: Their openers got off to a good start but we dropped about five catches and we should have got them out a lot more cheaply than 282. We dropped some early catches which were really crucial. The guy who went on to get 70 [Mall] was dropped on about 10; he didn't really look convincing. We gave them a few run-out chances, so I felt they scored about 50 runs too much. But our bowling towards the end was a bit loose, giving their tail-enders a few runs. But our spinners did well, very well, Greg Lamb and Ray Price.

JW: And for this third day, what was the game plan at the start of play?

DE: We were looking at giving them about 270 to 300 to chase after we had faced about 40 overs, putting them in just before lunch and giving them about 60 to 65 overs. Gav Rennie played very well, and looked well on the way to getting his hundred. I think on this type of wicket, once you get yourself in, you can only get yourself out, and I think that was the case with all of our batsmen who got in and then just threw it away through rash shots.