Mark Vermeulen - Biography

FULL NAME: Mark Andrew Vermeulen
BORN: 2 March 1979, at Harare
MAJOR TEAMS: Mashonaland (1997/98); CFX Academy (1998/99), Matabeleland (1999/2000 to date). Present club side: MacDonald Club (Bulawayo)
KNOWN AS: Mark Vermeulen
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Off Break Bowler
OCCUPATION: Professional cricketer

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: Mashonaland A v Matabeleland, at Bulawayo Athletic Club, 23-25 October 1997
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: 21 October 2000, v Sri Lanka, at Sharjah

BIOGRAPHY (updated January 2002)

Mark Vermeulen, former Zimbabwe Under-19 captain, is generally regarded as one of Zimbabwe's most promising young batsmen. At present he still needs consistency and a tightening of his technique, but he has shown himself as a man who can take responsibility in a crisis and build big hundreds.

Unusually for a white Zimbabwean player, Mark has little family background in cricket, although he does have an uncle on his mother's side who is involved in administration in Matabeleland. Coming from an affluent family, though, he has been able to overcome this problem with enough money to help him along financially, attending sound cricketing schools and by his own application and determination.

Mark was a regular but not a particularly dedicated player until, he says, he was in Form Two at high school, when in the first game of the season he scored a century for the first time, and this was the turning point in his life. From then on, he has never wanted to follow any other career but one in cricket. "It became like a disease that caught me and never wanted to let go," he smiles.

He first played the game at St John's Preparatory School in Harare, getting into the school colts team at the age of about ten. He started as a wicket-keeper, taking over in his second match after the regular keeper had a poor match, and also opening the batting. In his next two years, in the school first team, he began to bowl off-spin as well. Strangely he does not remember playing cricket before then at home like most young Zimbabwean white players do; he played a bit of tennis, but when he became keen on cricket he turned the family tennis court into an indoor cricket centre, complete with a bowling machine.

He did well enough in the school team to be selected for the Harare Schools team in the primary schools cricket week, scoring a number of forties but getting no further due to the limited-over nature of the matches, and taking wickets in every match. In one game against Springvale School near Marondera, he took seven wickets for 11 runs, which remains the best bowling performance of his career. He did well enough to be selected for the national Under-13 team, the Partridges, mainly as an off-spinner, although he opened the batting as well.

When he went to Prince Edward High School he began keeping wicket again, and was appointed captain of the side as well. "Those first three years were really brilliant, captaining the side. It was fun and the team spirit was excellent at Prince Edward," he said. "The black guys there really enjoy their cricket and the facilities are all there, and I think the headmaster Clive Barnes is fantastic." He admits that they had a good team, losing only about three matches in three years, and including players like David Mutendera.

In Form Two there came that match against Lomagundi School when he scored 127 not out, opening the batting, which changed his direction in life. He usually opened at high school, which he still likes to do in one-day cricket, but prefers number three in the longer matches. When he went into the first team in Form Four, they already had a wicket-keeper so Mark started bowling again. His batting still dominated, though, as he scored a century in his fourth match, the first century for the school first team for about five years. His time in the first team also included a school tour to England, when he averaged 45.

In 1996 Mark was involved in an unhappy incident that could have had a serious effect on his future career. He returned from the tour to England to find his reputation had gone ahead of him and that the word had gone round other schools that they had to get Mark Vermeulen out quickly if they wanted to win the game. He felt that some of the masters of opposing teams were unfairly giving him out as the opposition's leading batsman, and on this occasion he got a big bottom edge from his bat on to his pad, yet was given out lbw. Something snapped; he felt he had again been cheated out and he pulled all the stumps out of the ground as he stormed off to the pavilion.

This was an uncharacteristic lapse, as Mark is normally philosophical and able to handle his dismissals and failures, but it had serious repercussions. He was suspended from school and dropped from the Mashonaland Schools team. Fortunately he had a strong supporter in Mr Bill Flower, father of Test players Andy and Grant. When nobody else would support Mark, Bill took it upon himself to speak in Mark's favour to the people involved and earned him another chance the following year.

Mark feels that Bill has had a greater influence on his career than any other individual. "I owe a lot of respect to Mr Flower," he says. "He's come round to my house and given me private lessons. He's really been a fantastic man for the psychological as well as technique, and he's been a great help to my game."

Mark had a run of bad form that resulted in his failing to gain selection for the national Under-15 team, but regained his place for the national schools side. He spent two years in that team, as captain in his final year, and three years in the national Under-19 team, the final two as captain, which included the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. During that time he toured England in 1997, when his opponents included Ben Hollioake, and scored 50 in the first unofficial Test at Edgbaston and 134 in the second at Northampton.

The following season he led the Zimbabwe team to the Under-19 World Cup, when they were placed in the only group of four to contain three Test-playing nations, West Indies and Australia also being in the group. They lost to Australia, Mark scoring a dashing 69, but beat Papua-New Guinea, with Mark scoring 112 off 84 balls. Then came the crucial match against the West Indies, with the winner to go through to the Super League. After a flying start chasing 235 to win, Mark scored 63 to help his team to a five-wicket victory with about five overs to spare, and this he names as the greatest moment of his career to date. This made him the leading run-scorer in the preliminary round of the competition. Unfortunately Zimbabwe lost all their Super League matches due to the failure of the top-order batsmen, including Mark.

Mark first started playing club cricket at the age of 14, obliged to join Old Hararians as he was a Prince Edward pupil. He continued there until the incident with the umpire, when the club said they had to back the school and refused to play him any longer. He moved to Old Georgians for two seasons, playing mainly for the second team with only an occasional first-team game as they had a very strong batting side. He made some big centuries for the second team, but when he turned 18 he decided to move again to Harare Sports Club where there was a vacancy for an opening batsman.

He played his first match for the Sports Club third team, but John Traicos, who had already been giving him some coaching, saw him playing and was so impressed that he had him promoted to the first team for the next match. He began batting at six or seven, though, but the following season they gave him a chance as opener against Old Georgians, when he scored 107 and became a fixture there.

After leaving school Mark was not interested in following any career apart from cricket. He has been over to England to play club cricket each year, although he was available for only half of the 2000 season as the Zimbabwe A tour of Sri Lanka cut across the English season.

In 1997 his English experience came with the national Under-19 team, and the following year he played for Alderley Edge in Cheshire, a wealthy club, and in 1999 for Betley in the North Staffordshire league. He became the first club professional to score 1000 runs in a season for them.

In 1999 he had a year at the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, and for 2000 and 2001 was posted, as part of his three-year contract, to Matabeleland, where he plays and coaches, staying with an uncle. His Under-19 captaincy experience stood him in good stead, as he was immediately appointed captain of a young Matabeleland Logan Cup team. He has also played for the Zimbabwe B team, but he acknowledges the debt he owes to his parents for their support throughout his career, including financial.

Mark intends to make cricket his permanent career, and even when he eventually finishes playing wants to go into coaching or administration; he does not visualize himself as a person who can do an office job or sit behind a desk all day. He realizes that to have an international career behind him would be a great help.

"With sport these days there are no short cuts," Mark says. "You have to put in a lot of effort and a lot of work if you want to get to the top level, and that's basically what I've been trying to do for the last three or four years that I've been out of school."

Playing for the Zimbabwe Board XI against Border in the UCBSA Bowl competition during the 1999/2000 season he scored 143, batting at number three, in his first Board match of the season. He had suffered a poor start to the club season, apart from an 84 against Queens, an attack that included Heath Streak, Henry Olonga and Pommie Mbangwa. Then came a two-month period when league cricket in Harare almost came to a standstill because of visiting international teams, and he lost momentum. He was therefore overlooked for the Board XI, but had a lucky break when injuries to others and national call-ups led to the selectors recalling him. He is a player who needs to play regularly to maintain his best form, and finds that difficult with only one league match every weekend during the Zimbabwe season.

Mark's highest career score is 197, scored out of a total of 292 for Matabeleland against Midlands during 1999/2000. This was not only his maiden first-class century; it was worth 67.46 per cent of his team's total, a record for cricket in Zimbabwe. In a weak team, though, a second-innings failure led to a narrow defeat. In the four-match programme he scored 438 runs for Matabeleland at an average of 62.57, finishing with an unbeaten 103 in the drawn match against the Academy.

Selected for the Zimbabwe A tour to Sri Lanka, Mark began superbly, with 152 in the opening first-class match against a Sri Lankan Board XI. His tour was interrupted by injury, though, and he did not each fifty again. After the tour he went to England again, to play for Benwall and Wallbottle in Newcastle during the second half of the season. Despite his restricted season, only one player in that league scored more than his 720 runs at an average of 60, and he scored four centuries.

He returned to play against New Zealand in a warm-up match, without success, but was selected to go to Sharjah with the national team. He probably only played in the first match, against Sri Lanka, because Alistair Campbell had been suspended, and he admits that his 22 as an opener was too slow for one-day cricket. He has not been selected for the national team again, but has been a regular for the Zimbabwe Board XI, scoring a century against North West opening the batting. In the one-day matches he scored 57 against Border.

He feels he is batting better in one-day cricket now, generally at number three or four. He scored only his second first-league century, 125 off 124 balls for his new club MacDonald Club in Bulawayo against Alexandra Sports Club, four or five years after his first. In the Logan Cup he recorded another big century, 180 against Midlands again. He enjoyed his time in Bulawayo but returned to his parents' home in Harare after his contract with Matabeleland expired at the end of 2001, where he has all the facilities he needs to work at his game. He played in England again during 2001 with success, scoring over 1000 runs at an average of 60 in 17 matches, including three hundreds. This time he was playing for Fordhouses, just outside Wolverhampton, in the Birmingham League.

He returned to Zimbabwe and enjoyed mixed fortunes. He scored 120 for the Zimbabwe Board XI against North West in the one-day match and did reasonably well on the Zimbabwe A tour of Kwekwe, while being disappointed not to turn several fifties into big centuries. He suffered a run of poor umpiring decisions, though, which frustrated him. His usual policy has been to walk when he knows he is out, believing the umpires will respect his reputation, but gave it up for a while, only to find out that he got even more bad decisions then. He has now decided to walk again.

"Basically all I want to do is to play for my country," he says. "That has been my goal since I was ten or twelve years old. I'm just going to look to keep nice and fit, and keep getting scores on the board so the selectors recognize me. That's the only way to do it and it's the right way to select teams: if you perform on the field, you get picked."

Mark is basically an attacking batsman who likes to get on with the game, although at first-class level he is still finding his way. Despite being over six foot tall, he plays more off the back than the front foot and prefers bowling short of a length. The hook, pull and cut are his most profitable strokes, but he can also drive off either foot. He likes to dominate the bowling: "I think if you go out there to bat and you're not going to dominate the bowling you might as well stay in the pavilion. You have to go out there and show who's the boss."

He is also a man for big scores and is bitterly disappointed when he fails to turn fifties into hundreds. "Anything between 50 and 99 I don't like at all," he says. "My belief is that once you get past 50 you have to carry it on to 100. Most of my first-class centuries have been over 150." He prefers to hit boundaries and in Matabeleland has a reputation for his dislike of running between wickets. However, he has realized his need to rotate the strike more, especially in difficult conditions, and will be working on that aspect of his game.

In the field Mark is a specialist slip fielder, preferring the first slip position. He began his 1999 season fielding in the covers, but in about the fifth week his team needed one wicket to win and two overs left and he was brought in to third slip. The batsman snicked a ball that Mark could see would fall short of second slip, so he dived across and caught it just off the ground. After that he became a regular at first slip for them.

*** Toughest opponents: "I've played against the Aussies and I found Glenn McGrath was pretty tricky! He gets it nice and straight and nips it both ways, so you can't really leave it because he can nip it back and trap you lbw or bowled, so you have to play a shot. He also has one that goes the other way, so you're always in danger of edging it to the slips. He gets it to the right area so you can't really get on the front foot and drive, and it's not short enough to hook or cut. To me he's been the toughest bowler I've faced so far in my career. The only way to counteract him is to use your feet, and in Test cricket you can't really do that against a bowler of his pace. In one-day cricket you can get away with it because he can't bowl bouncers.

"I've also faced Brett Lee, but he's very much a two-length bowler, either a bouncer or a yorker. Because he has genuine pace you're going to struggle to play the pull shot, so you just have to play with a straight bat and get your ones and twos, and when he tries the yorker you can drive."

*** Best friends in cricket: Doug Marillier and Neil Ferreira. "We get along very well, different characters all three so we make a good combination when we get together. We have a lot of fun together when we go out, and we were all at the Academy together last year. We enjoy playing ten-pin bowling and a bit of golf here and there. I think that's probably why they sent us to three different provinces this year!"

*** Immediate ambitions: "To do very well in this Logan Cup. I have to work hard and try to get myself a maiden first-class century, and then off to Sri Lanka for six weeks starting in the middle of April. Hopefully they will give me a chance in the side, because since I made that 143 they haven't actually played me. It's four-day cricket, so there are opportunities not only to get hundreds but to get double-hundreds."

*** Views on cricket: "I'm trying to push in Zimbabwe, trying to make Logan Cup cricket four-day cricket as well; in three-day cricket you're really struggling to get a result, unless you do what our two sides have done [in the Matabeleland-Manicaland match] and get both sides bowled out in one day. If you make first-class cricket over four days, as it should be and as it is in most countries round the world, then you give batsmen the chance to get not only hundreds but double-hundreds. It also gives the bowlers the opportunity to bowl to a player without having to rush to bowl teams out.

"Also we have got to play each other home and away. Playing each team once is not quite enough. That gives you ten first-class games in a season, and with a final eleven. This is the only place you learn, because in club cricket, the one-day game, anyone on their day can pull off something special, whereas out here it's a lot tougher, fields are set to good bowling, and if you bowl well you get wickets and if you bat well and work hard you score runs.

"You can't believe how much Logan Cup has improved from last year (1999/2000) to this year. Last year when I played for Matabeleland there were two guys, myself and Dion Ebrahim, who were fulltime cricketers. This year there are only two or three who are not on ZCU contracts. Already in one year it has improved, quadrupled the number of fulltime cricketers. Next year, when all the present Academy players go to different provinces, every single player in every province will be a fulltime player, so there's no excuse next season for there not to be four-day cricket, home and away, ten games of four-day cricket.

"I think we need to get more cricket being played in Zimbabwe. When I go over to England and play in a league, and there are 300 leagues in England, there are 26 league games in one season and 12 cup games, 36 to 38 cricket matches. I counted how many league fixtures there are in Zimbabwe this season and there are only 17 in six months, which is not really good enough. I'm trying to get into the national side, and playing only four or five first-class matches a year makes it difficult.

"All I hope for Zimbabwe cricket is that the people keep coming and supporting us. Whenever I go out there, I'm going out with 100 per cent commitment and I'm just looking to play my best. All we need is a bit of support and I'm sure things will go right. We need to work hard, especially at the highest level of international cricket. We've got everything going for us - beautiful weather and conditions. I think Zimbabwe is a great country and we just need the people to believe in us.

"We need more publicity about domestic cricket. That's one thing that's lacking. I'm sure that if more people knew about the Logan Cup more people would come. But there is not much said and it's not publicized properly.

"The good thing about the Logan Cup this year is that you are playing with the national players and after the game you can have chats with them and they can help you a hell of a lot. Basically cricket, and most sports, is learning, and the only way you can learn is out in the middle. That's why more of these games would make up-and-coming players better, because you have national bowlers who will figure you out, and after the game they will say, `Hey, you should have rotated the strike' or `You could have left those balls outside off stump' and all those little things. You store them in your mind and that's how you become a much better cricketer."

*** Most difficult opponents played so far: "Glenn McGrath as a quick bowler is very difficult. He gets very close to the stumps, making you play the ball all the time, and he seams it both ways. Not very often does he bowl you a bad ball; it's always on a good length, no half-volleys, and he'll bowl you the odd short one at pace. I think he's been the most difficult bowler to face.

"The quickest bowler for me has been Brett Lee, who came here for the Australian Academy. We played them at Alexandra Sports Club, and he showed in the recent World Series that he's actually the quickest bowler in the world. As a spinner I didn't get to face Shane Warne when they came, but I did face Anil Kumble two seasons ago, and I feel that he's the best spinner I've faced."

*** Other sports played: "I play the odd round of golf if I get the opportunity; I might knock a tennis ball around, but really it's 100% cricket. I work on fitness and strength at the gym every morning, usually, practise for a couple of hours a day and then coach in the afternoon, as I've been doing in Bulawayo this year.

"I used to throw the javelin at school; I was the national javelin champion at Under-15 level, and my older brother also throws the javelin, so it's been in my family. My dad still holds the record at Falcon College. I played rugby at junior school for the first team, but once I went to senior school I only played it to make up time in the winter season. From Form Two it was just cricket."

*** Interests outside cricket: "I enjoy most ball sports; I like to hit a golf ball. That feel of hitting a ball sweetly is why I enjoy cricket so much, hitting it off the middle of the bat, the timing of the ball. I study cricket, watching the greats such as Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara on video; I can just sit and watch them all day long, even if they're blocking the ball - there's so much class and style, it's fantastic to watch. That's what I spend a lot of my time doing, studying the great players, trying to make myself a better cricketer."