David Mutendera - a short biography

FULL NAME: David Travolta Mutendera

BORN: 25 January 1979, at Highfield (Harare)

MAJOR TEAMS: Mashonaland. Present club team: Universals

KNOWN AS: David Mutendera. Nicknames: Diva; Curtley (as in Ambrose, from his height); Courteney (from his admiration for Courteney Walsh)

BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat

BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Fast Medium

OCCUPATION: Student at Zimbabwe Cricket Academy

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: Zimbabwe Cricket Academy v Australian Cricket Academy, 27 March 1999

TEST DEBUT: Still awaited to date

ODI DEBUT: Zimbabwe v Kenya, at Nairobi, 25 September 1999

BIOGRAPHY (October 1999)

For twenty years now the Zimbabwe Cricket Union has been promoting cricket in the black townships of Harare. Certain critics, ignorant of how long it takes to develop quality cricketers with no home or cultural background in the sport, have for a long time made cynical comments about the motives of those responsible for it.

Now at last the first development cricketer has broken through to the Zimbabwe national side, paving the way, it is hoped, for many more to follow in years to come. The man in question is pace bowler David Mutendera, who made his international debut in the recent one-day series in Kenya.

David was born in 1979, the year before independence, in the Harare high-density suburb of Highfield, although he grew up in neighbouring Glen Norah, one of the first high-density areas earmarked by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union for development. He went to Shiriyedenga Primary School and followed his elder brother into the game there in Grade 6, when his coach was Richard Munjoma. He began as a wicket-keeper, a natural follow-up for one who was a goal-keeper in soccer, but gradually switched over to bowling in his second year. All his early cricket was played on the concrete pitches built to give an early start to the game in areas where cricket had never ventured before.

David's talent soon became evident. He did well in local matches against other schools also in the development scheme and was selected after only one year of cricket as a member of the Harare South team to play in the national primary schools cricket week; in his next year he captained the side. He was by now primarily a fast bowler, quick for his age, who could also bat usefully.

It was his good fortune that his parents sacrificed a great deal to send him to Prince Edward High School, always a stronghold of cricket, again following his brother, who regrettably gave up the game after Form Four. By the time he reached the Sixth Form, though, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union had taken such an interest in him that they awarded him a scholarship for his last two years at high school. He lived 15 kilometres from the school and had to commute there each day.

He won a place in the national Under-15 team and went on his first tour with that side, to the South African Under-15 cricket week in Bloemfontein. He missed the Under-18 side the following year, but was a member the following two seasons. For much of his time at Prince Edward he played as an all-rounder, batting in the middle order with a highest score of 92 not out against St John's. He also scored 52 against Western Province at Grahamstown in his final Under-18 Week. Later, however, he decided to concentrate more on his bowling. In his final year he captained the side. His best bowling performance was a seven-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, against the strong St George's College team.

The next steps were the national Under-19 team to South Africa for their cricket week, and then to England in 1997. In England he played in two of the three unofficial Tests against the home country's Under-19 side, which included such players as Andy Flintoff, Chris Read, Graeme Swann and Paul Franks. He has fond memories of Canterbury, where in the final match of the series he took for wickets for 51 in the first innings.

The following home season he played in the Under-19 World Cup tournament held in South Africa, and took five cheap wickets against Papua-New Guinea in an overwhelming Zimbabwean victory. However, he rated much more highly his spell of 10 overs for 13 runs without taking a wicket against Sri Lanka, when he bowled as quickly and accurately as he has ever done.

While still at Prince Edward he began playing club cricket, at first for the school's Old Boys association, Old Hararians. Living so far from the school, though, he found transport difficult, and the following season he was happy to switch to Universals, as he had friends able to help him with transport to that club, which is much closer to Glen Norah. He has played for Universals ever since then.

David names Richard Munjoma and 'Bunny' Brereton, his Under-15 coach at Prince Edward, as important influences in his early career, but believes that it was his time with Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Bowling Foundation in Madras that really transformed his career. His bowling action used to be very much a slinging one, but Lillee made him get his arm high and worked on his run-up and follow-through; even more important, though, was the encouragement he received to believe in himself and realise his own potential. He returned home a changed bowler, he states.

He finished the 1997/98 season in the Zimbabwe Board team which played against the B sides of South African provinces. He then went on a scholarship to the Plascon Academy in South Africa, but unfortunately a season with a heavy workload had taken its toll of his back. The ligaments in his lower back became inflamed, and he had to return home from Plascon after three weeks. This injury cost him ten months' cricket and put him out of most of the 1998/99 season just as people were beginning to look at him as a future international player.

He came back gradually and was offered a place in the first intake of the new Zimbabwe Cricket Academy. He was still unable to bowl at full pace, but was selected for the Academy's first match, against the visiting Australian Cricket Academy team. The local team was overwhelmed, but David was able to take three wickets in the match. This to date has been his only first-class match.

In 1999 he had another and much more successful spell for four months at the Plascon Academy. He began slowly, aware of his recent injury, but then improved. He gained particular benefit from the physical fitness side which helped to strengthen his body.

After two impressive club games at the start of the 1999/2000 season, the Zimbabwean selectors pounced on their man, selecting him for the quadrangular tournament in Kenya. He admits he had not done much to be selected for the tour itself, but had doubtless been selected mainly for his past performances and potential, as well as the good report he had received at Plascon.

David enjoyed the tour, where he was made to feel very much at home by his team-mates, who are still mostly white. He opened the bowling in the first match against Kenya, when he remembers the great support and encouragement he had from his opening partner Neil Johnson in particular and indeed the whole team. He soon learned, though, that in inter-national cricket there is a very small margin for error, which was brought home to him in the match against South Africa, where Lance Klusener devastated the Zimbabwean attack for a dynamic century on a flat batting pitch. He found Klusener was able to punish even his good balls, and conceded 26 runs in his four-over opening spell, as did Johnson, despite winning credit for using the new ball well.

Despite his failure to take a wicket, David was pleased with his tour, and clearly others were too, as he was selected in the twelve for the Test match against the Australians. The expectation was, though, that should all players remain fit he would be twelfth man, which would nevertheless be an invaluable experience for one who can hope for a long and successful international career in the future.

David is six foot four inches tall and his main asset is the lift he can extract from a good length off the pitch, using his height well. His stock delivery is the off-cutter, although he can also bowl the ball that moves the other way. He realises, though, that it can be fatal to experiment in one-day cricket, and with 50-over club matches predominant in Zimbabwe he does not have much freedom to try out new developments in the middle. His one-day philosophy, quickly learned, is to let the batsman make the mistakes by bowling a tight line and length and maintaining the pressure; he names Adam Dale of Australia as a bowler who is an example worth copying in one-day cricket. His batting ability is still evident, and the likelihood is that he will, given time and experience, develop into a very useful all-round player.