Zimbabwe Board XI v Natal B: Nick Pretorius

Umpire Nico (Nick) Pretorius from Northern Transvaal, primarily an Afrikaans speaker, has been in Kwekwe for the UCBSA Bowl match between the Zimbabwe Board XI and Natal B. He talks to John Ward after the game.

JW: Nick, for how long have you been doing inter-provincial umpiring?

NP: This year will be my thirteenth year, and my fifth year on the national panel of South Africa. This is my fiftieth first-class game, although they don't count as first-class any more.

JW: Have you umpired in any international matches?

NP: Not so far. I am waiting to go up to the international panel to do the one-day internationals. Actually I am now on the reserve panel. They demoted me now, actually to make provision for some development umpires coming on to the panel. I have done SuperSport games, Standard Bank games and I was actually third umpire for five-day Tests in South Africa, and third umpire for the ODIs as well.

JW: Is this your first cricket visit to Zimbabwe?

NP: No, it's my third one, actually. I was here in '92 when I toured with Northern Transvaal for two weeks and I was here in '95 again when Free State played Zimbabwe down in Harare, but that was a four-day rainy day and we called the match off after the second day and went back to South Africa on the third day. There was no cricket at all.

JW: What are your general impressions of the country and of your cricket here?

NP: I must be honest with you: it's a lovely country. I travelled from Harare on Wednesday to Kwekwe, and it was very nice but actually it's only dry as well, very dry, and I hope for you people you get rain.

JW: We had about six hours of rain in Harare yesterday, our first of the season!

NP: I heard so, and as I said I hope you can get some more rain. Lovely outfield here, a lovely place is Kwekwe, my first time here, and I'd like to come back here for international games. The people here are lovely; I love the people, all of them. It doesn't matter what race, what colour - they're actually very nice.

JW: This is a developing ground here at Kwekwe. What is your opinion of the present facilities?

NP: Like I said to the groundsman on Friday night, they talked about in the sports club hosting maybe one international in the World Cup. And I agree there's nothing wrong with the facilities and I'd love to see Zimbabwe play Bangladesh here or maybe play Holland here. I'd love to see that because it's nice - the facilities, the changing rooms - it's excellent. And the pitch itself is a very nice pitch and like I also said to him last night we can also play five-day Tests on that one. We've had three excellent days, we had good cricket, long days of cricket here, and I think that will last for five days. It will take a lot of turn from day one and late this afternoon they're still turning. So I don't know what you do with the pitch but it's lovely.

JW: I spoke to him at lunchtime and he didn't really know either!

NP: Ja, I don't know - I can't say. But I'd like to see an international game played here.

JW: Who were the Zimbabwe players who impressed you in this match?

NP: I must tell you something: the wicket-keeper [Tatenda Taibu] - I must take my hat off to that guy. He's excellent; I hear he's only 17. He's good; he needs some experience. And I think nice captaincy by your captain Gavin Rennie, and I think there's one or two guys, especially Dion Ebrahim who is also a good player. A good hundred, he showed in the first innings. An excellent innings, when he's on form, he showed brilliant shots. That's the two guys for me.

And the two spinners, I think they're also excellent [Ray Price and Greg Lamb]. Pricey I've umpired a game before; he was turning the ball and a good spinner. Maybe a future for internationals; I think he's a good prospect.

JW: Do you find much difference in the approach to the game between players here and the South African players?

NP: No, not at all. They guys play hard, they play very hard, to they play to win, and I think that's good for cricket and for the young guys in the team so they know how it feels to win a game. I think that's excellent for the guys. This is a young side. Trevor Penney [the coach] mentioned to me this morning that he'd like to play for the youngsters in the side. But still with the captain Gavin Rennie and the youngsters, he controlled them nicely, excellent, very very well. But they're just about the same [in approach]. A good side.

JW: Were there any interesting features of the match you'd like to comment on?

NP: No, there's nothing. As I said, I've watched three days of good cricket, from my side and from my colleague's side, we've seen very good cricket. And all the best for Zimbabwe, because you've had the one win, and the next game is Northerns in Pretoria and then after that they play Gauteng in Johannesburg, and good luck for them. That's my opinion.