Biography - Waddington Mwayenga

FULL NAME: Waddington Mwayenga
BORN: At Harare, 28 June 1984
MAJOR TEAMS: Mashonaland (2001/02). Present club: Old Georgians Sports Club
KNOWN AS: Waddington/Waddy Mwayenga
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Fast Medium
OCCUPATION: Scholar

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: Mashonaland v Midlands, at Harare Sports Club; 22-24 March 2002
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: Zimbabwe v Pakistan, at Queens Sports Club; 24 November 2002

---

BIOGRAPHY (November 2002)

Zimbabwe's selectors have acquired a reputation in recent years for plunging young players into international cricket well before they are ready for it, and then dropping them quickly when they don't make the grade, before leaving them for a year or two before returning to them - if at all. Hopefully Waddington Mwayenga will not suffer such a fate.

There was much cynicism when Waddy, as he is usually called, became yet another virtually unknown 18-year-old to be fast-tracked into the national one-day squad to face Pakistan in November 2002. In the second of the five-match series, he was given a place in the team.

It was a hard baptism against a Pakistani team that had only narrowly won the first match and was therefore determined to hammer the weak Zimbabwe bowling to build a total that was way beyond Zimbabwe's reach. Waddy's figures of none for 74 off nine overs do not show it, but he was the most accurate of Zimbabwe's often wayward seam bowling attack, pitching a full length and bowling a good line. Yousuf Youhana and Shahid Afridi got after him, but he still maintained a reasonable standard of accuracy under pressure. Given his youth and inexperience, it was a promising start.

Waddy's father is groundsman at the elite St John's College in Harare, although he did not know the game and was unable to introduce his three sons to the game. It was here that Waddy and his older brother Allan, a CFX Academy student in 2002, first had contact with the game. They used to hang around the school with their father and watch the teams practising in the nets. Coach Bill Flower, father of Andy and Grant, threw the ball to them and soon discovered they had talent. Waddy played no cricket at his junior school, Tomlinson Depot at the police headquarters, but Bill Flower took an interest in him, gave him some coaching and was so impressed with him that he included him in his Harare Stragglers team for players of his age.

From the beginning Waddy was primarily a pace bowler. The Stragglers team went to Mutare for the Casuals Cricket Week there and was pleased to take seven wickets in three matches. Waddy won a scholarship to Vainona High School for three years, where he was the star of a very weak side against weak opposition, frequently taking seven or eight wickets in a match. In one match he took all ten wickets to fall, including two hat-tricks, and also scored 95, his highest in any match to date, before being run out by his brother!

Then he won a much better scholarship to St John's itself, sponsored partly by the school and partly by a Mr Carter, a businessman who took an interest in him over the years. His best school performance has to date been six for 14 against Watershed, although he has a number of other six-wicket hauls to his credit.

He had already been noted by the national age-group selectors, and represented Zimbabwe at Under-14 and Under-16 level before progressing to the Under-19 side for two years. His most memorable match was an Under-19 World Cup match in New Zealand against Kenya, when he took five wickets for 21 runs. He has also been to Zambia, Namibia, South Africa and Singapore with age-group teams.

Waddy also owed his introduction to club cricket to Bill Flower, who took him along to Old Georgians Sports Club at the age of 15, and he has played for them ever since. His best figures for them so far are four wickets for 35 runs against Harare Sports Club during the 2002/03 season. He has also played winter cricket for Shamva.

Waddy feels his main strengths as a bowler are his ability to bowl a good length and line, wicket to wicket, coupled with swing away from the right-hander and movement off the seam. "I cut the white ball but really struggle with the red ball," he says.

Waddy is used to fielding in the deep, or at mid-on or mid-off. He is keen to develop his batting and become an all-rounder. His only captaincy experience to date was at Vainona, and he says he has no real ambitions for the job.

Besides Bill Flower, Waddy pays tribute to Shane Cloete as a coach with the age-group and Zimbabwe A teams and Mike Seager, a former seam bowler himself, for his constant encouragement. His role model as a pace bowler is the Australian Glenn McGrath: "I think he's an excellent bowler."

At present Waddy is studying for his A-levels and will continue at school for 2003. After that he wants to follow in Allan's footsteps at the CFX Academy, and hopes by then that he will be a regular member of the national side. Given the talent he has shown so far, it is a definite possibility.

Cricket heroes: Andy Flower.
Toughest opponents: "In my first one-dayer, Shahid Afridi. I really didn't know where to bowl to him. Also Yousuf Youhana."
Personal ambitions: "To bowl as well as Glenn McGrath."
Proudest achievement so far: "Making the one-day side and being able to play cricket at international level."
Best friends in cricket: Stuart Matsikenyeri, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, my brothers.
Other qualifications: Studying A-levels.
Other sports: First-team hockey at St John's and first-team soccer at Vainona.
Outside interests: "I like reading cricket magazines or any other sporting magazines."