Just our luck

John Ward17-Nov-2001Just our luck! Zimbabwe cricket has spent most of the last few months shooting itself in the foot, and when at last we look like doing things right (albeit against Bangladesh and with no credit to the top-order batsmen) the weather steps in and wipes out the final two days.For Bangladesh it was a landmark, as this was the first Test match (out of six) they have not lost. They will take little satisfaction from it, though, as it was due to intervention by Jupiter Pluvius rather than their own skill. The truth is, though, that they were grossly underprepared for Test cricket, although that was not altogether their fault.Zimbabwe had an unbroken history of first-class cricket stretching back many years when they were awarded Test status in 1992. Regular touring teams, usually the second teams of Test-playing countries, came at the rate of at least two a season during the period between Currie Cup with South Africa, which ended at independence in 1980, and Test status. Bangladesh, on the other hand, had no first-class cricket since they split from Pakistan a generation ago. Their present Test players had no opportunity to play first-class cricket before 1997, and therefore no experience at all of the longer game at any significant standard.I don’t know how much more they could have done to prepare themselves for Test cricket, but their results so far have shown how out of their depth they are. The ICC seemed to fast-track them through to Test status last year, leaving a suspicion that for some of their members, at least, it was for political rather than cricketing reasons.I am not begrudging Bangladesh their Test status; I am just saying that their preparation for it was totally inadequate. With their vast human resources and boundless enthusiasm, it will not be many years before they have a strong side and quite possibly are beating Zimbabwe more often than they lose.We now have Kenya pressing for Test status as well, and they too are badly underprepared for the longer game. We may well have very soon two very weak Test teams who are no match whatever for any of the others – except perhaps Zimbabwe, if our slide continues – in an overcrowded international fixture list. If they cannot give a good account of themselves at Test level, they may well find television companies reluctant to carry their matches, and so may be lost what is at least for Zimbabwe the main source of revenue.So the ICC should be careful to put wishful thinking or political motives behind before admitting Kenya or anybody else to test status prematurely. My feeling is that they should introduce, say, an intensive three-year programme for Kenya, with regular visits to and from strong A teams of other countries, such as Zimbabwe had, and perhaps an unofficial Test or two against a full national side, if other countries can be persuaded to try this. At the end of that time, a cricketing decision could then be taken as to whether the newcomers were ready for Test cricket, and they would either be accepted or have their probation period against A sides extended.I feel this should have been done some time ago. It would have been good to have Kenya as a Test-playing country today – but only if they were ready for it. We all know that such players as Maurice Odumbe and Steve Tikolo, for example, are players of quality, but they have rarely been tested against class opposition in first-class cricket, never mind Test cricket. It would doubtless take them time to adjust, if suddenly plunged into it, but how long? Far better to give them a good step up instead of, as happened with Bangladesh, plunging them into Tests with very little first-class cricket behind them.The sad thing is that it is probably too late to do this for the likes of Odumbe and Tikolo, who have both been around for some time. They will either be past their prime or retired by the time Kenya play Test cricket, or else they will indeed be plunged into it with very little experience in the longer game. More needs to be done now.As for Zimbabwe, I write after a successful first day of the Second Test against Bangladesh, and congratulations to Trevor Gripper for reaching what was his maiden first-class as well as Test century. He has fought back well after being out of form over a long period, and it will be interesting to see how the selectors behave when the team for Sri Lanka is chosen, when one would normally expect them to restore Alistair Campbell to the side.ANOTHER CAPTAINStuart Carlisle becomes the latest victim, in the view of some, to take over the captaincy of the national side, as Brian Murphy has returned home, hopefully only briefly, with a broken finger sustained in the First Test against Bangladesh. He stands a good chance of becoming the first Zimbabwe captain to win his first Test match in charge.There is a groundswell of feeling, among both players and public, that the best man for the job is still Andy Flower. I am certain this is true for cricketing reasons alone. But it is most unlikely to happen because Andy is too strong a character, too uncompromising in his beliefs, to hold the job without making waves. The gulf between him and the administrators is too great to be bridged without a great deal of hard work and a great deal of talk. Sadly, this isn’t happening, and so the Zimbabwe team lacks the strong leader it so desperately needs.DAVE ELLMAN-BROWNI feel it is a tragedy for Zimbabwe cricket that Dave Ellman-Brown should be resigning as managing director. He has probably been the most influential administrator in the history of the country.He is a man who will not take no for an answer. Two years after becoming Zimbabwe Cricket Union president, we were playing Test cricket. At the start of his presidency, it seemed unlikely that Zimbabwe, steadily losing top players through lack of incentive and money, would ever play Test cricket. Two years later, he had persuaded every other Test-playing country, except for England, to let us in.After this triumph, which almost certainly would not have happened when it did, if at all, he resigned due to his promotion to become a partner in Coopers and Lybrand. But he returned in 1998 as chief executive on his retirement from business, to find Zimbabwe struggling to play enough cricket at international level through the reluctance of many other countries to play us. Again he would not take no for an answer, and by the end of this year, Zimbabwe will have played every other Test-playing country except Pakistan both at home and away during a period of just over two years.He has not made such a dynamic impact without ruffling a few feathers, but it is impossible to deny the tremendous contribution he has made to Zimbabwe cricket. Dave has always been totally loyal to his fellow administrators. It will be greatly to the detriment of cricket in this country if his energy and influence are lost.Note: I am currently in Mutare to report on the match between the Zimbabwe Board XI and Northerns B, so will be unable to communicate by e-mail until my return next Tuesday.