Looking back at Zimbabwe cricket: Part 1

Part 2 can be found here.

Perhaps no other team has had ups and downs during their tryst with cricket as frequently as the men in red, green and yellow. Their cricketing tenure has been as colourful as their team colours, but unfortunately failed to live up to their promised potential.

An Independent force before their independence

It all started back in 1890 when Rhodesia staged their first cricket match soon after which there was no looking back. Immediately, in 1891, the Salisbury Cricket Club was established who competed often with Bulawayo in inter-provincial cricket matches. Cricket fans would do well to note down the name of the middle order batsman and captain of the then English team, Lord Martin Bladen Hawe, who went on to play a whopping 633 first class matches.

He and a certain Cape Colony politician, James Douglas Logan, who played 4 first class matches for South Africa, reached a consensus of contesting the Logan Cup between Rhodesian provincial teams. In fact, there is still fierce competition for this trophy between the Zimbabwean provincial teams. The Currie Cup Competition as well as the Vigne Cup were amongst other tournaments which indeed enriched the skills of youngsters in and around Rhodesia.

It was quite late in 1909-10 that the captain of the second MCC touring side Leveson-Gower persuaded his team to play games at the provinces of Rhodesia. Although the minnows were expectedly defeated, there was a marked improvement in their standard of cricket. Between the two World Wars, there was hesitation from South African teams to tour these vicinities.

Added to their woes, the hype around first class cricket was dying down. Many players served the National Army which left little time for practice. During this time span, precisely in 1935, the country was proud to announce its first Test player in the form of the all rounder Denis Tomlinson who represented South Africa in their tour of England.

In 1960, the then Prime Minister Ian Smith embarked on a unilateral declaration of independence which led to many cricket players moving overseas. It also imposed heavy international restrictions leading to touring teams not being eligible to visit anymore. However, the Currie Cup continued and their cricketing spirit wasn’t ready to die.

Cut to 1970, the period which led to the rise of Gary Sobers and Mike Procter. The former West Indian captain and one of South Africa’s best all rounder ever, helped revolutionize a sinking side, albeit in different manners. Gary’s interest in participating in the domestic competition at Salisbury angered many Caribbean nationals but his intention was clear. He further made positive remarks about upcoming Rhodesian players who were incidentally white and agreed to play more matches against this young side.

This infuriated the politicians, the West Indies Board as well as the locals who threatened to strip him off his captaincy. An apology from the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago signed by Sobers laid these tensions to rest and the unity in the West Indian team was regained. Despite this, Sobers insisted that politics and sports should not be mixed.

Added to the encouragement by the legendary Sobers, Mike Procter had an equally important role to play in the same period. He provided the right zing with his raw cricketing abilities, both with the bat and ball. Think of a Virender Sehwag and a Zaheer Khan rolled into one and you get Mike! He taught the team to fight fire with fire by dominating the opposition with his hard-hitting batting. He ran in quickly, with a chest-on action, bowling off the wrong foot at the end of an intimidating run which generated late in swing.

He shrewdly capitalized on this unusual bowling action by rendering it unplayable to the vulnerable opening batsmen. He was well supported by John Harcourt ‘Jackie’ du Preez, who was yet another gifted all-rounder. A leg spinner, who played a whopping 113 matches for Rhodesia, du Preez was amongst the few players to score close to 4000 runs and take 279 wickets. These outstanding players solidified the team and how! When you hear the name of Travis Friend, there’s nothing friendly about this fiery fast bowler who was one of the fastest in the world, in the league of Dennis Lilee and Curtly Ambrose.

In 1980, we saw Ian Smith being replaced by Abel Muzorewa and a complete upheaval took place in the cricket department. The Currie Cup breathed its last and the team was now known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. With the end of White rule in 1980, began a new era as the cricketing world embraced this new born Zimbabwean baby with open arms. It was on July 21, 1981 that Zimbabwe was elected as an associate member of the ICC. Remember Salisbury cricket club? That’s Harare Cricket Club for you, in modern times.

Happy Times

Nov 1992: Portrait of Andy (left) and Grant Flower of Zimbabwe during the 1st Test against New Zealand in Bulawayo.

Things were now looking up for these young minnows. Their first World Cup in 1983 saw them registering a convincing win over Australia. After playing in the 1983 and 1987 Cricket World Cups, they attained test status in 1990. It was during this period that the Flower brothers, Andy and Grant made their debuts. Their first Test match was against India and to their credit, they astounded the world by holding on to a draw.

The team was built around the first Test captain of Zimbabwe, Dave Houghton, who partnered Andy and built many a formidable opening partnerships. Also lending support was the all-rounder and the only Zimbabwean to take a hat-trick in a Test match against Bangladesh, Andy Blignaut. The right-handed batsman Robin Brown, who incidentally became the coach of the side later on and pace bowler Eddo Brandes, who played in four World Cups and is famous as the hot headed bowler who was the oldest player to take an ODI hat-trick at the age of 33, also played during this time.

With time emerged bowler Henry Olonga, who was also incidentally Zimbabwe’s youngest ever player and first black Test player, the ODI opener Alaistair Campbell, who played 188 matches and captained 86 of these and all rounders Neil Johnson and Paul Strang and fast bowler Heath Streak who took 100 wickets in both Tests and ODIs. Undoubtedly, he was one of the legends of the game with his outswingers at good pace and his ability to whack the ball out of the park, providing handy knocks.

He also has the distinction of playing in a domestic match in 1995 with his father, becoming one of the few father-son duos to play alongside each other. Power packed performances from these talented players with the bat and ball as well as their blistering fielding exploits convinced those who felt that Zimbabwe had been granted pre-mature Test status and the world, that this team was here to stay. During only their third World Cup, in 1999, they showed their true class by finishing fifth place in the Super Sixes and barely losing out on a semi-final place to New Zealand.