In former playing days, captain Alastair Campbell had a penchant for frustratingly hitting out to cow corner or long on’s throat.
If one ever needed proof that sheer reckless and wild impetuosity does not always translate to permanent exile in cricket, and solid, staid batting to permanent presence, one needs look no further than his and Hamilton Masakadza’s careers.
Heir to the magnanimous Dave Houghton, Zimbabwean pretender to the throne of Englishman David Gower, Campbell’s career in cricket was in many ways tenuously desperate.
In a decade of Test cricket for Zimbabwe he averaged 27. In four years as captain he didn’t record a single century, only managing a best of 99. And yet, for 11 years from 1992 to 2003 he was a permanent presence in the team. Not so Masakadza.
Campbell, the recently appointed managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket, recently waxed lyrical on the previously announced squad to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, and sheepishly reminded the nation than after over a decade of international cricket, vice captain Hamilton Masakadza would only be making the squad for the first time.
The irony couldn’t have been lost on him. For it was him, in 2011 as chairman of selectors, who controversially dropped the imperious batsman for what was termed “loss of form” and picked Charles Coventry instead.
The two figureheads’ records are similar. Campbell broke into the senior national team as a fresh-faced 19-year-old in 1992, making his debut Test with a sparkling 63 against Pakistan, prompting Wisden cricket to cast him as a sort of David Gower, that mellifluous English batsman of the early 80s.
But Campbell’s career went quickly from meteoric to metronomic as time and again he failed to fulfil his potential as a promising batsman. He continually floundered at four to expose the Zimbabwe middle order, which was shored up by Andy Flower. In his first 40 Test matches he failed to record a century despite batting no lower than six, and averaged a measly 27.
Finally he broke that duck in 2000, making 103 against India, and went on to make one more against West Indies. And yet in his 11 years as a one day and Test cricketer, he played in four World Cups.
By comparison in 13 years of international cricket, Masakadza will be playing in his first, and possibly last, World Cup. Now almost 32 and at an age in which batsmen reach their peak, he will be 35 when the next World Cup arrives.
In July 2001, Masakadza – then a 17-year-old schoolboy – made a century on Test debut, against the West Indies. He was quickly shifted to the one-day squad against the advice of Dave Houghton, played on the notoriously slow but tricky pitches of the subcontinent in Sri Lanka, failed on that tour, and for the next four years was on study sabbatical in South Africa.
But when he came back, he was immense: once derided for not being a one day-type, he defied all predictions and today has become the the most feared T20 batsmen on the domestic scene.
He was absent in 2003, and in 2007 was controversially dropped for being out of form. With scores of 0, 42 (in a match where the entire team was bowled out for 99), 0 and 28 in the four Test innings of the summer preceding the announcement of the squad against New Zealand at home, he was in admittedly middling form but certainly performed no less than any of five batsmen who went to the World Cup. Among them were Friday Kasteni, Keith Dabengwa and Stuart Matsikenyeri, who infamously went for a big hit in the final match of a ball against Ireland when all they needed was a single to win.
It was a puzzling call to drop him, and worse was to come four years later. The latter was a spectacularly foolish decision, only eclipsed in its hopelessness by Coventry’s failures in that World Cup, on flat pitches in which the historically uncertain Brendan Taylor prospered away from home. More about that later.
Masakadza has been picked finally and should do justice to the overdue call. So too should Tawanda Mpariwa, the fastest bowler to reach 50 ODI wickets since Eddo Brandes, and yet for six years left in the wilderness amidst Heath Streak’s call for out-and-out fast bowlers in 2008. Campbell was also reported as saying Mpariwa needed “to bat like Paul Collingwood” to be selected again. Collingwood has since retired, and Mpariwa is yet to bat like the stolid Englishman.
It remains to be seen if he will cope in the hard and fast pitches of Australia where his medium pacers might yet turn out to be cannon fodder for run-hungry batsmen used to T20, but his selection can hardly be faulted after an impressive season in domestic cricket.
Not all is proving just however. Former captain Prosper Utseya’s recall and batsman Craig Ervine’s selection is a mystery. Last week the convener of selectors, Givemore Makoni, was reported to have said that after being banned from bowling off spin, Prosper Utseya remains their “mystery bowler”. One presumes he was joking, or trying a hand at sarcasm.
Save for picking Utseya as an outright batsmen where pundits will compare him on merit, the real mystery remains how his now-medium pacers and off cutters supersede those of other medium pacers like Shingi Masakadza or Neil Madziva.
Former captain Brendan Taylor has been in skunk form. Over 23 Tests, in which he averages 35, 10 of them have been played away from home for an alarming average of 21. Familiarity breeds comfort. In fact, generally take out the fortress Harare Sports Club in his stats in international cricket and his average dives. He might yet come good if there is no lateral movement in the pitches he will be playing on; introduce any seam movement however, and you may bet your bottom dollar he will come in and go out early.
This year’s squad still looks low in stock but this has been the case for at least the past decade. Chamu Chibhabha might yet prove his worth at the top despite a two-year absence, and if Sean Williams tightens a loose technique and angling bat against the quicker bowlers he might turn that languid style on the crease into substance.
Certainly opening batsman Sikandar Raza Butt has played with a fearlessness perhaps only fleetingly seen in Zimbabwe before with Neil Johnson 1999. It might be the Pakistani genes, the daredevils and unpredictables of international cricket, but it certainly adds impetus to the Zimbabwe cause and will shore up a sensible top order. Only a strong number six seems missing and despite the emergence of Regis Chakabva, once again one ruminates at the sheer frustration of all that hastened the departure Tatenda Taibu into ministry.
Captain Elton Chigumbura will typically come in at seven and for the umpteenth time he captains while he still fights for his place in the team. Is the captain a batsman who bowls, or a bowler who bats, or one who can’t do both adequately enough to put questions of his temperament to rest? All will be answered next month, but his captaincy and field placing have been much better than the unimaginative Taylor.
Goodness knows why with Williams and Kamungozi selected, Utseya, who bats at eight, was also necessary; a subject that has extensively been discussed by those who avidly follow cricket in the community’s forums.
Bowling has become Zimbabwe’s mainstay and Tinashe Panyangara will be a constant threat to many with his tight bowling and good bounce. So too will Chatara, who has been immense in the last two seasons.
Whatever the case, new coach Dav Whatmore has something to work with, and thankfully, less selection controversies to contend with.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Arjun Tendulkar fell victim to the humidity as he cramped up, but he wished he had taken himself off as he delivered two gifts…
New Zealand took 28 years to win a Test match, finally triumphing in 1956. There were plenty of skilled individuals before that but not a complete team.
In just under three weeks, the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup will commence in Texas as the United States face off against Canada in…
After Rajasthan opener Yashasvi Jaiswal hit a boundary off the first ball, the Punjab player got revenge a few balls later - and ultimately…
"No cricketer that has ever lived hit the ball so often, so fast and with such a bewildering variety of strokes.” - HS Altham…
Featuring Aussie cricket star Usman Khawaja and taking inspiration from multiple horror films, Amazon Prime's promo for the 2024 T20 World Cup has certainly…
