It was good, and after recent disasters rather a relief, to see Zimbabwe able to take all three one-day internationals against Bangladesh without being unduly stretched
John Ward30-Nov-2001It was good, and after recent disasters rather a relief, to see Zimbabwe able to take all three one-day internationals against Bangladesh without being unduly stretched. Our team finished the tour with an unbeaten record, and would almost certainly have won all matches were it not for the rain that wiped out the last two days of the First Test.It was great to see the successes of Dion Ebrahim and Craig Wishart, whose batting dominated the tour. Andy Flower perhaps does not find Bangladesh enough of a challenge, although as a true professional he would never take such a match casually.Ebrahim, not a natural opening batsman, did not do too well in the Tests, but won the Man of the Series award in the one-day internationals. He is one of the most likeable and positive players around and everybody who knows him will be happy for him. He still has to come to terms with his difficult job in Test matches, but hopefully has gained in confidence from his successes in the one-day series and will go from strength to strength.Wishart has had a raw deal over the years from selectors, who were unwilling to give him the extended run in the side that Ebrahim has had. Now he has enjoyed success in both the Tests and the one-day matches, scoring a total of 360 international runs on tour for three dismissals; he did not fail once. He is very much a player who needs confidence, and needs to have confidence shown in him. Hopefully he has turned the corner and will now be a regular member of the team for years to come.But now Ebrahim and Wishart, and the team as a whole, go from one end of the scale to the other. Sri Lanka has been the hardest venue of all for Zimbabwe overseas. We have lost every single international match we have played on the island: four Tests and seven one-day internationals.Actually, we should have won the last Test we played there, at Colombo four years ago. Zimbabwe had Sri Lanka at 137 for five, chasing 326 to win and the last two recognized batsmen together. At this stage the two umpires stopped functioning, and in an appalling travesty of justice refused to give out the two remaining batsmen, Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga, to a number of justified appeals, especially early in their innings, and they took their team through to what the record books would appear to indicate was a truly great Test victory.In fact, it was a truly great travesty of justice. Should any doubt this, I can only say that Dave Houghton has the evidence on videotape, and a neutral reporter, Geoffrey Dean, then of the Daily Telegraph, said as much in his match reports. Zimbabwe should have won, and the discredited Sri Lankan victory set back Zimbabwe cricket very seriously; in fact, it may well be that the team would be playing better today had they won. That is not overstating the case; victories, especially overseas, are so rare for Zimbabwe that to have won this match would have been a major breakthrough.Undoubtedly four of the Zimbabwean players in Sri Lanka right now will have bitter memories of this match: the Flower brothers, Wishart and Heath Streak all played, and in fact it was a magnificent century by Andy Flower and superb seam bowling by Streak that would have won the match for Zimbabwe, given a fair deal from the umpires. They will be especially hungry for revenge, and let us hope this does not spill over into unpleasantness on the field.Last time Sri Lanka toured Zimbabwe, they ran out Murray Goodwin as he moved out of his crease to look at the pitch, so Zimbabwe do not hold Sri Lankan sportsmanship in high regard. That is unfortunate, as Sri Lankans are the friendliest of people off the field, but the cynical world of Test cricket seems to have affected the way they play and support the game. There have been strong suggestions that the reason why the umpires refused to give decisions against de Silva and Ranatunga in Zimbabwe’s last Test there was that there had been such an outcry over a bad decision against a home batsman earlier in the match that they were afraid of suffering violence were they suspected of contributing to a Sri Lankan defeat.So let us hope for a good series between the two sides for a change. We cannot realistically hope for such a turnabout as to allow Zimbabwe to win a series there, but just one win on tour would be a great boost. Obviously Muttiah Muralitharan will be at the centre of attention, probably the greatest spin bowler in the world on current form, and on his home pitches that will be a great challenge. Zimbabwe’s confidence drawn from victories in Bangladesh will be put to a tough test.INDIA v THE ICCThe cricket world this week stands on the brink of disaster, as a result of the refusal of the Indian Board to accept the rulings of match referee Mike Denness, backed by the ICC.Last week I suggested these rulings might have been better handled, but I feel strongly the Indians should have played out the final Test against South Africa in accordance with the ICC regulations, though under protest. India were a party to the regulations involving match referees, and if they are allowed to get away with breaking them, only chaos can result.The villain of the piece appears to be Jagmohan Dalmiya, former ICC chairman and now in charge of own country’s board. His refusal to fall in line with the ICC rulings is a case of putting his own agenda ahead of the good of the game as a whole. Whether it is deserved or not, he has already acquired a reputation in some quarters, even among some in his own country, of being arrogant and intransigent. This current affair seems to fit in completely with those accusations.Even if we accept that Mr Dalmiya is justified in all that he believes about the Denness affair, I cannot see anything but harm coming to the game, both in India and elsewhere, should he continue to oppose the rulings of the ICC, however unjustified some may think them to be. ICC simply cannot afford to back down, or that would be opening the floodgates of anarchy. If they cannot make rulings that must be obeyed, nobody can.We could easily have a situation now whereby England pull out of their tour and are awarded the series by default, and what will happen to India then? If the other Test-playing countries will back the ICC, as they must if we are to avoid anarchy in the cricket world, then India will be isolated. If some decide to support India, then we have a split in the game. Either would be a catastrophe, with the latter the worse of the two options. India is a great cricketing country and we cannot afford to lose them, but their president is putting the cricket world in an impossible situation.For the good of cricket, Dalmiya must back down. If he doesn’t, the game will inevitably suffer. If the ICC were to back down, the game worldwide would suffer because there would no longer be anybody able to run it. The next few days will show how much this man really has the good of cricket at heart. However much he believes he is right, he must back down or reach a workable compromise, or he will do possibly irreparable harm to the game he is supposed to serve.THIS ISSUEBesides the usual reports in this issue, we include updates of Zimbabwe’s records in Test and one-day cricket. On the historical side, we have completed our survey of the matches played by this country, then Rhodesia, in the South African Currie Cup competition of 1971/72. This was a season of hope for the country, as the great all-rounder Mike Procter took over as captain and almost took the team through to win the Currie Cup itself.It was Ray Gripper’s last season in first-class cricket, it saw the debut of a very exciting opening batsman in Brian Barbour, and the graceful left-hander Stuart Robertson enjoyed his best season for the country. The legendary left-arm spinner Richie Kaschula also played his first season in the A Section competition.