Zimbabwe Cricket Year- review

Most Test playing countries have a year book, annual or almanack - for example English cricket has Wisden and Playfair, Australian cricket has Allan's Australian Cricket Annual and and the new green Wisden, India has Indian Cricket, and there's New Zealand Cricket Almanack. Zimbabwe has been playing tests since 1992, and joined the fold in 1998 with the first edition of Zimbabwe Cricket Year. After opening its account in a promising fashion, Zimbabwe Cricket Year has begun building an innings with the 1999 edition. Its production in times of economic and political difficulties in Zimbabwe should be considered a feat in itself, and it would be churlish to note that due to delays in publication the events it reports are slightly dated by now.

The editor, John Ward is familiar to CricInfo users for his incisive match reporting and his editing of Zimbabwe Cricket Online, and also is a regular contributor to the Cricketer and Wisden. It appears that he written most of the articles (although in many cases they are not identified as such) as well as compiled all the statistics. Although the authorship is very much a one-man show, much credit must go to the publisher, David Jones and the Pangolin Press for a handsome well designed volume, only slightly marred by a few typographical errors, notably the frequent omission of apostrophes.

There are comprehensive features on the Year Book's Cricketers of the Year, Neil Johnson and Henry Olonga; and Zimbabwe player of the year Andy Flower. Each feature consists of a detailed review of the player's career, based in part on in-depth interviews, and these alone are worth the price of purchase. John Ward also retroactively selects yearbook cricketers of the year back to the Second World War, with a mix of unfamiliar and familiar names (Bland, Procter, Fletcher, Davidson, Curran, Traicos, Hick,,Streak, Strang included amongst them)

The basis of any good yearbook is a comprehensive collection of scorecards, and the Yearbook is outstanding in this regard, with scorecards and brief match reports of every major match involving Zimbabwe teams. The cards are not particularly space efficient with a blank line between each batsman, but this does improve readability. The match reports are well written, informative and incisive, not refraining from criticism and comment. The Zimbabwe domestic season is limitedparticularly so in 1998-99 when the first-class season consisted of three matches for the Logan Cup, one of which was rained out completely. These are covered in detail, and supplemented by short scores from the Castle Lager National league, contested by clubs in and around Harare, and a training ground for many of Zimbabwe's national cricketers. The Logan Cup, as shown in a photograph of the presentation, is surely the biggest trophy awarded for any domestic cricket competition! There was much other cricket in Zimbabwe to report however, and England A's tour is comprehensively covered, as well as visits by the Australian Cricket Academy (who clearly did not make many friends), the Plascon Cricket Academy, and Western Province. As noted by the publisher, there is little coverage of schools cricket, or the development programme, although Peter Whalley does provide a short review of representative age-group cricket.

The focus of much of the rest of the publication is the International team. It covers the story of Zimbabwe's most successful season to date, that of 1998/99 when Test victories were recorded against both India and Pakistan, and also of the 1999 World Cup when Zimbabwe reached the Super Six section. Zimbabwe also reached the final of a Sharjah tournament, and won a tournament in Bangladesh. Scorecards and match reports are complimented by complete international statistics, plus a register of all first-class Zimbabwe / Rhodesia players prior to 1992.

An invaluable resource, with some fine colour photographs on the cover, the yearbook should be in every Zimbabwe cricket fan's collection, and we look forward to next year's edition with interest.

The yearbook is available for 15 pounds from Limlow Books, Blue Bell House, 2-4 Main Street, Scredington, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 0AE, England. Within the United Kingdom it is post free; overseas customers please add a further £1.50 for surface mail postage or £2.50 airmail. Payment should be by a sterling cheque as credit cards cannot be accepted.

In Zimbabwe, copies can be obtained from the Pangolin Press, Helena close, Marlborough, Harare, telephone/faz 4 333222, e-mail pangolin@primenet.co.zw.