Douglas Hondo - a short biography

FULL NAME: Douglas Tafadzwa Hondo
BORN: 7 July 1979, at Bulawayo
MAJOR TEAMS: Zimbabwe Cricket Academy. Present club side: Universals
KNOWN AS: Douglas/Doug Hondo
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Fast Medium
OCCUPATION: Student at CFX Academy

FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: CFX Academy v Mashonaland, at Country Club, 2-4 March 2000
TEST DEBUT: Zimbabwe v South Africa, at Harare Sports Club, 7-11 September 2001
ODI DEBUT: Zimbabwe v England, at Harare Sports Club, 3 October 2001

BIOGRAPHY (updated October 2002)

Douglas Hondo was regarded as one of Zimbabwe's most promising young cricketers long before he made a belated, due largely to injuries, debut in first-class cricket for the CFX Academy in the Logan Cup competition of 1999/2000. He had then recently returned from a three-week course at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, India, where he learned from Dennis Lillee, and was in his second year at the CFX Academy in Harare.

The following season he was to make his debuts in both Test and one-day international cricket, with little success at first - until after a season playing club cricket in South Australia, which seemed to transform his bowling. He returned to regain his place in Zimbabwe's one-day side, and responded with a remarkable 15 wickets in five matches.

Like most of Zimbabwe's young black players, Douglas had no parental guidance in the game - which was not their fault - but he does have an older brother who first introduced him to the game. His brother attended Queensdale Primary School where the late Peter Sharples built a strong cricket team from boys like the Hondos with no family background in the sport, and this was Douglas' first connection with the game. Unfortunately his brother gave up cricket at high school when he began to play the bagpipes in Churchill's famous band. He has a younger brother Daniel who is now 17 and has played for the national Under-13 and U17 teams, as well as a Logan Cup match for Mashonaland A.

In Grade 2 Douglas himself joined Mr Sharples' cricket group, encouraged by the enthusiasm and fun that were always part of the coaching sessions. He played for the school colts team from Grades 3 to 5, and then the school first team in Grades 6 and 7, when he was captain both years. He played as an all-rounder, opening both batting and bowling. In a match against Courteney Selous School he took nine wickets for 4 runs as they were bowled out for 8, and his highest score was 68 not out against Nettleton School. He thinks he averaged about 40 with the bat in junior school. He represented Harare East in the national primary schools cricket week in his Grade 7 year but did not produce any outstanding performances.

From Queensdale Douglas followed his brother to Churchill Boys High School where he was immediately given a place in the school Under-15 team; he captained them the following year and in Form 3 he progressed to the first team, still as an all-rounder. In that year he took seven wickets for 10 runs against Gateway High School in the Prince Edward festival. He scored several fifties for the school team, and also an innings of 121 against Hillcrest. Peter Sharples was again his coach, having moved to Churchill School, partly perhaps at least to keep up his work with the boys he had coached so well.

In representative cricket Doug played for Mashonaland at Under-13 level, without making the national side, but in 1994 he was a member of the national Under-15 team to go to the South African Week in Bloemfontein. The following season he played in a warm-up match against England Under-19s and in the Zone 6 tournament in South Africa, which was won by Zimbabwe.

Unfortunately a back injury put him out of contention for a year, which meant that he missed the Zimbabwe Under-19 tour of England in 1997. During this time he kept himself going by bowling spin! He returned to cricket the following year without great success, but he applied for a place in the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy. He was put on the waiting list and eventually offered a place in January 1999.

Injury hampered him a great deal during his first term, pulling an intercostal muscle during a warm-up in wet conditions which put him out of the Academy match against England A. He kept fit with some cross-country runs, but then missed the match against Denmark when he lost a toenail.

He spent the off-season in England, enjoying a successful season playing for Lydney in Gloucestershire. He opened the bowling and batted at number six; he averaged 38 with the bat and took 38 wickets at an average of 19 in the league. His highest score was 127 against King's School Staff, his highest score in any kind of cricket, 81 not out and six wickets for 61 against Froster, the top team in the league (Lydney still lost), and 85 against a strong Cheltenham team. The then CFX Academy director Gwynne Jones said that the club reported that he was the best overseas player they ever had - past signings had included Sri Lankan Test players. He worked well there with the youngsters and they were keen for him to return.

The main benefit he obtained from playing in England, he feels, was that he learned to bowl much more accurately, length in particular. The slow pitches there turned short balls into long hops, while he found he was driven if he overpitched. He also experimented with inswing, with some success, and feels that playing cricket so much, in addition to gym training, developed his strength.

Douglas did not enjoy much success on his return to Zimbabwe, but he was offered a second year at the Academy. Early in 2000 he went to India for coaching with Dennis Lillee, along with David Mutendera, and learned a great deal about all aspects of bowling which he is working to apply to his game. Lillee straightened up his entire action, improving his balance, helping him to conserve his energy without losing pace, and improving his fitness and suppleness. He can move the ball both ways off the pitch and claims to have three slower balls! He has also been working hard to develop his leg-cutter and his inswinger is improving all the time.

Douglas is also keen to improve his batting, but he still goes in at number eleven in club cricket, frequently not getting a bat at all and giving him little opportunity to display his progress. His school and English performances prove that he has much more batting ability than he is generally credited with, and he feels he is able to bat either defensively or aggressively according to the situation.

Douglas started playing club cricket when in Form 4, for the Churchill-based club Winstonians. The following year he was injured, but on his return he moved to Sunrise Sports Club for a higher standard of cricket. He returned from England to find cricket at that club also stagnating, so he moved to Universals so as to be able to keep playing in the first league. He finds all the players there most helpful, especially David Mutendera, Everton Matambanadzo and Ali Shah, who are all bowlers who can help him technically and also on the mental side of the game.

After finishing at the Academy he was posted to Kwekwe, where he played a season for Midlands without much to show for it. So it was a major surprise to Douglas as well as everyone else when he was selected for the First Test match against South Africa in 2001/02. At this stage he had only 11 first-class wickets to his credit in eight matches, at an average approaching 50.

"At first I was called up to be a net bowler," he explains. "I was bowling well in the nets and I think the coach (Carl Rackemann) saw that. Brighton Watambwa got injured just before that Test, and I was told the day before that I was playing." Douglas obviously understates the situation, as he tends to do with modesty, but he was so impressive that he was chosen for his debut on his net form.

Unfortunately, perhaps overcome by the occasion, he did not bowl at all well, but he was in good company as the South African batting slaughtered the feeble efforts of Zimbabwe's bowlers to the tune of 600 for three declared. Douglas comforted himself with the thought, "It was not just me getting hit!"

He did take the wicket of Gary Kirsten for 220 and at number eleven played two useful innings in support of Andy Flower, who had the match of his life with scores of 142 and 199 not out. Andy was last out in the first innings and was just one short of a double-century when Douglas, who put on 47 with him in the second innings, was dubiously adjudged lbw.

He was dropped from the team for the Second Test, but shortly afterwards played in two one-day internationals against England. His selection in retrospect seems to have been a mistake, as he was much too inaccurate at that stage of his career and bowled just nine overs in two matches for 66 runs. "I had two catches dropped off Knight," he says, though.

Not wanted for Zimbabwe's tours, he went to Australia to play A Grade club cricket there. The Zimbabwe Cricket Union made arrangements with the Port Adelaide club for Douglas and Stuart Matsikenyeri to play a season there, and it proved the making of his bowling.

"It was good competitive cricket and I bowled 20 overs a match," he said. "In Australia they're so disciplined that any bad ball will be punished, so I quickly learned to hit the deck, line and length, outside off, and that's all I did." He thinks he bowled about 230 overs at less than three an over, taking about 20 wickets, during the course of the season. He had only two innings with the bat - "with three overs to go!"

Comparing that club competition with cricket in Zimbabwe, Douglas says, "The good sides in the league were like a good Logan Cup team when they had their state players in. They also had state B team players and a few youngsters from the academies, and older guys, but who had the experience. So the teams were fairly strong."

With one match to go before the end of the season, the club chairman approached Doug to tell him that the national side needed him in India. "I thought it was a joke!" he laughs. He had a busy work sorting out his ticket and visa, and then was off to India.

He did not play in the first two matches, but was twelfth man for the second. This was the match when Andy Flower was injured, so he fielded for most of the Indian innings. Then came the revelation of the third match at Kochi, when he broke through the Indian top order. Dismissing Mongia, Ganguly and Laxman; with another reintroduced paceman, Pommie Mbangwa, dismissing Dravid, India were 51 for four. He later dismissed the last man, Zimbabwe went on to win the match and Douglas won the Man of the Match award.

Playing in Australia got his disciplines right, Douglas says; not only was he more accurate but he also showed more pace and fire than he had shown in his brief international appearances before then. He took three wickets in the next two matches, including Ganguly again, and was naturally selected for the Zimbabwe team when they next played. Due to the Australian refusal to tour Zimbabwe, this was six months later, at the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka.

Douglas spent the Zimbabwean winter working out in the gym with Henry Olonga, getting himself fit and not playing, before going to Sri Lanka. He felt he needed a break from bowling. In Sri Lanka he was the only member of a disappointing Zimbabwean pace attack to trouble the opposition, which comprised India and England, coincidentally the only two teams he had played against before in this type of cricket.

He found extra bounce at times, although proving expensive, and took four wickets (Ganguly once more) as India slumped to 87 for five. But the rest of Zimbabwe's bowlers were less threatening, and India recovered to win the match. Another four wickets came against England, but apart from bowling Nick Knight he had to wait until later in the innings this time. He also had to bowl against Marcus Trescothick, whom he names as the most difficult batsman he has bowled to, and he returned the unusual figures of six overs, 45 runs and four wickets.

"My disciplines were not up to the level they were when I came from Australia," he admits. "I'm working on that, so hopefully when they get better I will still be taking wickets. I tend to give one energy ball once in a while - I don't know where it comes from, it just comes out!"

"This season I'm working on my batting," he says. "I want to become a full cricketer." With the ball he now bowls predominantly away-swingers, "when I get my action right! When it's not that great I bowl off-cutters." He is thus able either to seam or swing the ball.

As a pace bowler Doug usually fields on the boundary, but he prefers the covers or slips. He takes a pride in his speed in the field, diving a lot, catching very safely and saving many singles.

Gwynne Jones, Academy director during Douglas's time there, praises Douglas highly, as a genuinely nice guy with a good temperament, keen to do well, and one who could go all the way in Test cricket if he develops. Certainly with his recent startling successes in one-day cricket Zimbabwe followers are eager to see what he will do in the future, in both forms of the game.

Douglas used to play rugby as a fly-half at school, and played for Mashonaland Schools for two years and in his final year for the Zimbabwe Under-19 B team. He also played first-team basketball at Churchill, but no longer plays any sports other than cricket.

Douglas, who passed his A-levels, is hoping to take a computer course in the near future to give him some qualifications outside cricket, and he has a keen interest in computers.

Cricket heroes: "I don't have one in particular; I just admire the older guys who are still performing." In the past - "Sachin, Curtly, Courtney - all the great guys everyone looks up to."

Toughest opponents: Marcus Trescothick. "The Indians are tough to bowl to because they come hard at you."

Proudest achievement so far: "Playing for the team. Those four wickets in my last game against India."

Best friends in cricket: "The guys in my team so far. I speak to Makhaya Ntini."

Other qualifications: None yet.

Other sports: None at present. "I watch a lot of rugby."

Outside interests: "My music. I've got everything - every kind of music, I've got it."

Views on cricket: "Cricket these days is now batsman-friendly. Bowlers don't have anything going for us. But there's nothing I'd change."