Gary Brent - a short biography
MAJOR TEAMS: Mashonaland Under-24/Young Mashonaland (1994/95-1995/96); Mashonaland (1996/97 to date)
John Ward
27-Oct-1999
FULL NAME: Gary Bazil Brent
BORN: 13 January 1976, at Sinoia (now Chinhoyi)
MAJOR TEAMS: Mashonaland Under-24/Young Mashonaland
(1994/95-1995/96); Mashonaland (1996/97 to date). Present club
team: Old Hararians
KNOWN AS: Gary Brent. Nickname: GB.
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Fast Medium Bowler
OCCUPATION: Farmer, Zimbabwe Cricket Academy student
FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: Mashonaland Under-24 v Mashonaland Country
Districts (Harare South), 16 September 1994
TEST DEBUT: Not yet.
ODI DEBUT: 30 October 1996, Zimbabwe v Pakistan (Quetta).
BIOGRAPHY (October 1999)
Gary Brent is a pace bowler, and also a useful batsman, who has
been on the fringe of the Zimbabwean one-day team for three years
now without being able to break through and earn a permanent
place in the side.
Gary comes from a strong cricketing background, and his uncle Jon
Brent was an all-rounder, like himself, who represented Zimbabwe
between 1988 and 1990. His earliest memories of cricket are of
his father bowling to him on the lawn at home when he was very
young.
Although Gary is now primarily a bowler who can bat, his bowling
is a comparatively recent development. Although born in
Chinhoyi, his family soon moved near Harare and he attended
Highlands Primary School there. He won his place in the large
school's Colts team, which consisted mainly of Grade 5 players,
while still in Grade 3, as a batsman and later also as
wicket-keeper. This was a role he was to fulfil until late in
his high-school career.
He scored his first fifty for the school first team while in
Grade 7 and was sent for trials for the national primary school
tournament, but did not make the final side. He progressed to
Eaglesvale High School, where he was in the same year as the
Matambanadzo twins, Darlington and Everton. At first he
continued to keep wicket and either opened the batting or went in
at number three. It was here that he was coached by Barry Lake,
whom he names as the main influence in his cricketing career.
It was Mr Lake who encouraged Gary to develop his bowling. Gary
soon became a useful seam bowler, aiming to hit the seam and with
the inswinger as his stock delivery. In his final year he hit
108 against the English school Dean Close at the Prince Edward
Cricket Festival, in a partnership of over 300 with Doug
Marillier, who scored a double-century. He was selected for the
national schools team as an all-rounder.
During this year he also played club cricket for the first time,
joining Old Hararians who offered free membership to players from
schools such as Eaglesvale. He had further encouragement from
some of the leading players, and pays tribute especially to Paul
and Bryan Strang who gave him a great deal of help, especially on
the mental side of the game, and also Dirk Viljoen for his advice
with his batting.
After leaving school he started work for his father on the family
farm in Norton, which earned him a qualification for Mashonaland
Country Districts. During the off season he travelled to England
to play for the club at Burridge, where he found the play of
quite a good standard, better than Zimbabwean second-league
standard he thinks.
After some useful performances at club level, mainly as a bowler,
he made his first-class debut in the Logan Cup for Mashonaland
Under-24 against Mashonaland Country Districts. Although he took
only one wicket, he did play an innings of 40 against an attack
containing Test players Gary Crocker, Steve Peall and Paul
Strang, and this has surprisingly remained his highest
first-class score to date. In his team's next match, against
Mashonaland, he took the wickets of Test players Craig Evans
(twice), Andy Flower and Gavin Briant.
Gary still has a rather modest first-class record, although he
has some good performances to his credit for the Zimbabwe Board
XI in matches not ranked as first-class against South African
teams, most notably eight wickets against Free State B. It was
largely as a result of these performances that he was chosen to
tour Pakistan with the national side in 1996/97, a surprise
choice even though Zimbabwe's pace-bowling reserves were very
thin at that time.
It was a memorable tour for Gary, even though most of his time
was spent doing twelfth-man duties. He was particularly struck
by the dryness of the country and the poverty of so many of the
people there, and also felt very much in awe of the great crowds
that filled the stadiums and the noise they created. A great
deal of time was also spent driving from place to place in not
the most comfortable of conditions. He did play in one
international match, making his one-day debut at Quetta, where he
scored just one run and bowled five rather innocuous overs. He
was clearly not international material yet, and was overlooked
for more than a year after this by the national selectors.
His career took an important step forward when he was selected to
attend the MRF Pace Foundation coaching course with Dennis Lillee
at Madras just before he returned to international cricket in
April 1998. He worked hard at his action, especially in putting
his feet down in the right places, and feels the coaching was of
great benefit, an experience he would be eager to repeat given
the opportunity. He feels Lillee's advice on playing in big
matches also made a positive impression on him: "Stop, look, and
take in the atmosphere."
Gary's second one-day international was no more successful than
his first with the ball; playing against India in Cuttack, he
again bowled only five rather expensive overs without success,
but he did score a useful 24 with the bat, hanging on while Grant
Flower reached his century at the other end as Zimbabwe made a
late but unsuccessful bid for victory.
The following season he attended the Commonwealth Games, playing
in two matches against Malaysia and Sri Lanka, taking one and two
wickets respectively in the unofficial internationals. He again
played in just one official one-day international during the
season, another unsuccessful match against India, but at least he
had the satisfaction of a wicket this time, dismissing Rahul
Dravid.
Shortly after this he was given a place in the first intake of
the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, a position he had been aiming for
as he hopes to become a fully-fledged professional cricketer. He
had his first taste of captaincy at first-class level when, in
the absence of Dirk Viljoen, he led the academy against the
visiting Australian Cricket Academy team, which was to be a
rather torrid experience, as the tourists had in their ranks
Brett Lee, a bowler of express pace who literally frightened some
of the local Academy players. Gary himself showed his
unselfishness in the second innings by promoting himself in the
batting order, when on a 'pair', to face the fury of Lee when he
could have waited until the bowler was rested. He weathered the
storm and made a valiant 37, but the team was heavily defeated.
Gary's batting at adult level is gradually improving, although he
is still a poor starter to an innings and frequently gets out
early. He plays straight and scores the bulk of his runs from
drives, while he is also able to play safe and keep an end up if
that is in the interests of the team. He scored his first
fifties for Old Hararians and also for the Zimbabwe Board XI in
1998/99.
He has already played more international cricket in 1999/2000
than before after two matches against the touring Australian
side. But again his bowling failed to threaten or contain the
opposition, although he took two expensive wickets in the first
match. The indications were that he still needs to develop his
accuracy and consistency so that he can bowl better to his field.
A modest man who perhaps still needs to work on the confidence
factor, Gary has as yet made no real impression on international
cricket, but could still do that with plenty of hard work and
mental strength. The next season or two should determine which
way his career is to go.