Zimbabwe U19 Report

Win Justin-Smith, cricket master at Christian Brothers' College (CBC) in Bulawayo, is manager of the national Under-19 team shortly to go on tour in South Africa. He talks to John Ward about his team.

Schools cricket this year was handicapped from the start by the unusually wet season that all but demolished school cricket during the first term. Matabeleland for once suffered the worst of the climatic extremes and had very little schools cricket at all, while Mashonaland schools were more fortunate to manage perhaps three games each. "This made the selection process for the Under-19 side quite difficult because with the lack of cricket we had no real results to build on at all," Win Justin-Smith says. "So the selection process only really took place from the end of the Prince Edward festival during the August-September holidays.

"The third term has been much better as regards the weather. We ourselves played four games altogether, although eventually the last game was rained off, when CBC played against Falcon. The Harare schools, as far as I know, were able to play all their games with no real effect from the weather.

"The trials took place midway through October. We invited 24 players altogether, based upon those players who had already been to Kenya to play for the Zimbabwe Development side, and what we did was to have a Kenya side, as we called it, playing against a trials side." The two teams played matches against each other on successive days, and the results as far as school players' performances were concerned bore out what the selectors had been expecting. "Some people who had been selected for the Development side did not produce the goods as far we were concerned," he says.

The final Under-19 squad consisted of 15 players, which was larger than normal, but the selectors were concerned that the team would be playing not only the usual 50-over one-day matches at the Coca-Cola Week in South Africa but also three three-day matches against South African provincial sides. It was recognized that this would require a different technique.

The selected 15 were as follows:

Terence Duffin (Plumtree, captain) Charles Coventry (CBC) Andrew Durham (Peterhouse) Sean Ervine (Lomagundi) Dean Goosen (Lomagundi) Campbell McMillan (Peterhouse) Blessing Mahwire (Victoria) Hamilton Masakadza (Churchill) Stuart Matsikenyeri (Churchill) Jordace Nicholle (Falcon) Barney Rogers (St John's) Andrew Stone (CFX Academy) Tatenda Taibu (Churchill) Gavin Thorn (St John's) Stephen Wright (St John's)

"What is nice about the side is that quite a few of them have played for Zimbabwe before," says Win. "Terence Duffin played one game before, two years ago; Charles Coventry went down south to the Coca-Cola Week last year; for Sean Ervine I think it is his third time playing for Zimbabwe; Campbell McMillan came on the World Cup tour to Sri Lanka; Hamilton Masakadza was also in South Africa and the World Cup; Tatenda Taibu was on the World Cup tour to Sri Lanka and of course has played for the full national side overseas; and Stephen Wright has played once before for the Zimbabwe Under-19 side, two years ago. So it's quite nice to see that there is a number of experienced players in that team.

"The leading batsmen I imagine would be Gavin Thorn, opening, Charles Coventry, also an opening batsman, Terence Duffin the captain; we also have Andrew Stone from the CFX Academy, quite a youngster but he's also a good strokeplayer; Tatenda Taibu was very impressive at the World Cup and was rated very highly by Tiger Lance, the coach for the Namibian side. Taibu was able not only to maintain a good strike rate himself but also to rotate the strike, which is obviously extremely important in one-day cricket. Sean Ervine is also a good batsman, and Hamilton Masakadza is also able to open the innings, so we have quite a few openers that we can rotate.

"The two main pace bowlers will be Campbell McMillan from Peterhouse and Jordace Nicholle from Falcon. Both these two I think are genuine fast bowlers; Nicholle has the ability to move the ball in, and Davy Houghton has been working on McMillan's bowling action the last couple of weeks while at the Academy here. We also have as fast bowlers Blessing Mahwire of Victoria and Sean Ervine from Lomagundi. On the spin bowling side we have Hamilton Masakadza (leg-spin), Barney Rogers (off-spin) and Stephen Wright (also leg-spin). Andrew Durham is medium-pace and we have a reserve wicket-keeper in Dean Goosen in case Tatenda Taibu is called up for the main team."

How does this team compare for strength with previous Under-19 teams? Win's assessment is: "I think, judging from the team I managed last year, this one is of equal strength. It's nice to see that we have people who have played the game before at this level and know what it's all about; at the same time, too, we are able to bring in new players as well, and there are quite a few who will still be available next year and I think in fact one has two years ahead of him." Matsikenyeri, Masakadza, Taibu, Stone, Durham and Nicholle should all still be available next year, and so will Sean Ervine, for his fourth appearance.

A good warm-up programme has been provided for the squad to prepare them for their experiences down south. At the time of writing they are playing a two-day match against the CFX Academy; Duffin, Ervine, McMillan and Rogers have all been selected for the 2001 intake. On Wednesday 27 November they will play in the traditional Joe Partridge Memorial game at Old Hararians Sports Club, while the first three-day game starts on Friday against Northerns at the CFX Academy.

The team then goes to Pietermaritzburg to play Natal in a three-day match and then return briefly before flying to Bloemfontein for the Coca-Cola Week, where they will play six limited-over matches in six days against South African provincial teams. They return to Zimbabwe on 22 December for Christmas and New Year, and then go back into training for a three-day match against Easterns in Bulawayo, which will conclude their programme. It should be a great experience for them and it will be interesting to see who can make this just another stepping stone in a successful cricket career.