Jason Young: a biography

FULL NAME: Jason Alan Young
BORN: 22 July 1979
MAJOR TEAMS: CFX Academy. Present club teams: Mutare Sports Club, Alexandra Sports Club
KNOWN AS: Jason Young
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Medium Fast
OCCUPATION: Cricket Academy student

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: CFX Academy v Mashonaland, at Country Club (Harare), 3-5 March 2000
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: Still awaited

BIOGRAPHY (updated March 2001)

Jason Young is an all-rounder who is currently coaching and playing cricket in Manicaland after two years at the CFX Academy in Harare. Although generally regarded more as a bowler who can bat, it was with the bat that he impressed most on his first-class debut in the Logan Cup for the Academy against the strong Mashonaland team during 1999/2000. He was the only batsman to exceed even 20 in both innings, with scores of 47 and 34. Both were innings of great determination, the first after a middle-order collapse and the second with his team fighting to secure a draw.

Unusually for a white cricketer in Zimbabwe, who enjoyed until independence in 1980 a cricket culture to the exclusion of the blacks, Jason does not come from a cricketing family, his father having been a soccer player. The only cricket he remembers playing at home was at the age of about ten, when an uncle and his cousins came round to visit on Sunday afternoons and they would enjoy a family knock-around then.

He was fortunate, though, to attend Eaglesvale, a keen cricketing school, and was drawn into the game there from about Grade 4 onwards. He was primarily a bowler at that time, and admits to having only one shot as a batsman - a hoick across the line! He later worked hard to improve that and now considers himself an all-rounder. Certainly in his debut first-class match he played with a straight bat, although a heave to midwicket did bring about his dismissal in the first innings.

Jason always wanted to bowl quick, but he later realized his limitations and is now a capable seamer at just above medium pace. At junior school, striving for pace, he quickly earned a place in the school colts team and spent three years in his junior school first team, not a common achievement. He cannot remember his best performances at junior school, but when progressing to Eaglesvale High he remembers taking eight for 17 against Churchill. His batting was coming along, and he recorded a score of 96, also against Churchill, at a high schools festival.

His ambition had always been while in the lower forms to play for the school first team, which he achieved when in Form Three, and he used to sharpen his game by practising with older pupils such as Gary Brent and Darlington and Everton Matambanadzo. He also attended a bowling course run by the former England and Rhodesian all-rounder Robin Jackman in 1997 which he feels helped him a great deal. In his last year at school Stephen Mangongo took over the first team and Jason appreciated him as a coach who knew how to get the best out of him. He was captain for most of his high-school career.

He first played representative cricket at Under-15 level, for the Mashonaland provincial team, having scored a century in a school match against Prince Edward School, which he feels tipped the balance in favour of his selection now it was known he had skills as an all-rounder. He did not make the national side at that level but was named as a non-travelling reserve. He later progressed to the national Under-19 team that played in the South African Schools Week in Grahamstown and the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa in January 1998. In the schools week he took four wickets against Boland as his best bowling performance, but got little chance with the bat. He played in three World Cup matches, bowling tightly against Australia without any luck, and scoring 28 not out and taking two wickets against Sri Lanka, but failing against New Zealand.

While at the Week in Grahamstown, Jason met Gwynne Jones, the current director of the CFX Academy, who was coaching at St Andrew's College there, and Gwynne told him about the planned Academy in Harare. Jason duly applied and was accepted. He worked hard at his game at the Academy during 1999 and was one of three players invited back for a second year. "You never stop learning," is his comment.

Jason began playing club cricket at the age of about 16, for Harare Sports Club, for whom he played for three years. In those days, he says, Harare Sports Club were the number one side to play for, with good players and good coaches, including John Traicos, and a good side to train with, and this was what attracted him. After three years, though, he felt the club was going downhill, especially after the departure of Traicos for Australia, and for the current season moved on to play for Alexandra Sports Club, feeling he could further his cricket more effectively there, and is sure he made the right decision.

At Harare Sports Club also he was considered mainly as a bowler, and took quite a few hauls of three wickets; in the 50-over league more than that is rare, especially for one who is considered as an accurate stock bowler whose job it is to keep it tight. At Alex he has had more opportunity with the bat and contributed several twenties and thirties.

He did not have too many games for the Academy in 1999, and finished the year with a back injury. His most memorable game was against the Australian Academy, when he bowled well to take four wickets; this he names as the proudest achievement of his career to date. In the English season he played club cricket for Barnard's Green in Worcester, a good experience for him although the standard was not as high as league cricket in Zimbabwe. He naturally had to adjust to English wickets, which he found slower than those in Zimbabwe, but as the season progressed he improved. He made a good start with five wickets for 11 runs in his first match, and finished the season with a batting average of 32 and a bowling average of 28.

Jason recovered from his back injury early in 2000 and took his place back at the Academy. He attended a coaching course given by the former Australian pace bowler Carl Rackemann and feels he has benefited a great deal from this, especially in the placement of his feet during delivery.

Jason had another successful season with Barnard's Green in Worcestershire during 2000 when he scored a couple of centuries against higher division teams, with a batting average of about 48, and a couple of five-wicket hauls, averaging about 21 with the ball. He did not maintain his best form on his return, though, and it took a while before he was contributing again, mainly for Alexandra Sports Club Sports Club, for whom he scored two centuries and took three four-wicket hauls. He was posted to Manicaland at the end of the Academy year and represented Mutare Sports Club in the national league, although still playing for Alex in the Vigne Cup.

During the season he increased his run-up and adjusted his action to be rather more chest-on, aiming for more pace. He worked with the Australian Bob Simpson on his grip and developed a useful slower ball. In April 2001 he departs for England again to play for Tamworth in Staffordshire.

He worked on his batting with Murray Goodwin at Alex, and his favourite shots are the drives, especially through the covers, and the pull. He used to favour wristy strokes, a legacy from playing squash, but has learned to play straighter recently. He would prefer to bat around number six, given the choice. As a bowler his stock ball moves away off the seam, while he has a useful slower ball and claims to use reverse-swing. He is a quick fielder who is usually posted at places like midwicket or cover.

As a bowler he has found most difficulty so far in his career bowling to Andy Flower: "he's got very shot in the book." As a batsman his most respected opponent is Bryan Strang, whom he finds very difficult to score off successfully.

Jason also plays a lot of squash to keep up his fitness and develop his hand-to-eye co-ordination with the ball. He also enjoys some hockey now and then, when he can play in the cricket off-season. He represented his school at both sports. Outside cricket he has an interest in architecture, having passed technical drawing at O-level, and motor mechanics. He enjoys socializing in his spare time, visiting night clubs `now and then', dancing and, away from the city, hunting and fishing.