Adam Huckle - a short biography
MAJOR TEAMS: Zimbabwe (1990/91-1991/92, 1997/98- ), Eastern Province (1992/93-1995/96), Matabeleland (1997/98- )
John Ward
13-Oct-1999
FULL NAME: Adam George Huckle
BORN: 21 September 1971, at Bulawayo
MAJOR TEAMS: Zimbabwe (1990/91-1991/92, 1997/98- ), Eastern
Province (1992/93-1995/96), Matabeleland (1997/98- ). Present
club team: Queens Sports Club
KNOWN AS: Adam Huckle. Nickname 'Huck'
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Leg Breaks and Googlies
OCCUPATION: Farmer (cattle); professional cricketer
FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: Zimbabwe v Glamorgan, at Bulawayo Athletic
Club, 2 April 1990
TEST DEBUT: First Test v New Zealand, at Harare Sports Club,
1997/98
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL DEBUT: 11 October 1997, v Bangladesh, at
Nairobi
BIOGRAPHY (updated October 1999)
Adam Huckle, on his return to Zimbabwe in 1997 after seemingly
being lost to South Africa, immediately created a considerable
stir in the country. His well-flighted, deceptive leg-spin and
its variations made such an impression that he immediately
benefited from a selectors' gamble to play him alongside Paul
Strang, two leg-spinners in the same Test team.
Adam's father, who still farms at Turk Mine in Matabeleland, is
Mike Huckle, a former Matabeleland cricket stalwart who also
played in a first-class match for Rhodesia in 1966/67 as a slow
left-arm bowler who could also bat. It was his father who first
introduced Adam to cricket on the ranch at home, and Adam
remembers playing with his dad 'all the time' when free during
his youth.
Adam furthered his cricketing career at Hillside, and later
Whitestone, primary schools in Bulawayo. He was an all-rounder
throughout his schooldays and, although his batting talent was
neglected in South Africa, he could well become a fair batsman at
first-class level. He attended Falcon College, as did many other
current national players, although he was not in the same year as
any of them. He took some good wickets, although he doesn't
remember taking more than five in an innings, and was at that
stage generally rated as a much more promising bowler than Paul
Strang, a year his senior and who did not appear in first-class
cricket until later than Adam. He also scored 115 in a match
against Peterhouse. He played for the Zimbabwe schools teams at
both primary and high school level, touring New Zealand with the
national schools team, but has few specific memories of his best
school performances; he plays cricket for enjoyment and is little
bothered with the statistical side of his career. "If you don't
enjoy it, you stop playing," is his philosophy.
After leaving school, Adam won a place at Rhodes University at
Grahamstown, South Africa, to study pharmacy, a five-year course.
It was while he was here that he was first selected to play for
Zimbabwe, against the English county teams Glamorgan and
Worcestershire. To this day Adam cannot think how he came on to
the selectors' lists at all, as he had played no club or other
adult cricket in Zimbabwe; presumably the selectors had noted his
school record and kept track of his progress at university. He
also played a match against Australia B, but in his three
first-class matches for Zimbabwe before Test status was granted
he took just five expensive wickets.
Probably a combination of his absences at university and the
emergence of Paul Strang took him from the forefront of the
cricket scene in Zimbabwe, but he was never totally forgotten.
He was soon prominent in university circles, and remembers taking
eight wickets in an innings in an early match for that team. His
first-class debut was for the South Africa Students against the
Indian touring team, and he was soon snapped up for Eastern
Province as well.
In 1993/94 he enjoyed a fine provincial season for Eastern
Province. He took 34 wickets in the season, including 6/99
against Boland, and was now being talked of as a future Test
player. On finishing his university career, he accepted a
contract with the Eastern Province Cricket Union and stayed on in
the area, working first in a retail company and then in a
factory. The following season was not so successful, although
the highlight was to take ten wickets in a Currie Cup match
against Border at East London.
Despite being selected as a member of the South African Under-24
team to tour Sri Lanka in 1995, his career seemed to go backwards
instead of forwards. He failed to take a first-class wicket in
three matches on that tour, and on his return to South Africa
made little impression even when demoted to the Castle Bowl
competition. His province seemed to lose interest in him, and he
appeared in only a few club matches, for Union, in 1996/97, where
by his own admission he played badly.
Finally he decided to return to his father's ranch in Zimbabwe.
He was welcomed back with open arms by the cricketing community,
and soon found his enthusiasm again. He found new purpose in
practice and soon the old skills seemed to be returning. He
joined the Old Miltonians club, then the only Bulawayo team in
the national league, a situation which made it difficult for
other Bulawayo teams to develop, as all the leading Matabeleland
players tended to flock there.
At the start of the 1997/98 season he was a certainty for the
Matabeleland team, despite their embarrassment of riches in the
bowling department. In the Logan Cup match against Mashonaland
he looked no more than steady at first, as he tended to push the
ball through too quickly. When he slowed down, he bamboozled and
bowled Grant Flower, who was on the verge of a century, and
produced a superb delivery to dismiss Craig Evans without
scoring. He continued to impress, and was immediately placed in
the squad of 18, and later 14, players to face New Zealand.
His first Test match vindicated the selectors' gamble, although
it finished in disappointment as New Zealand fought a superb
rearguard action to save the match. Adam was not brought on
until late in the New Zealand first innings, but he had more
bowling to do than his captain perhaps intended, with the dual
purpose of keeping play going in poor light and saving time. But
he made the most of his opportunities: although being punished
for a few bad deliveries, an occupational hazard for an attacking
leg-spinner, he took five wickets in the match and returned
better figures than Paul Strang. Certainly he put in a strong
claim for a permanent Test place. On a less satisfactory note,
his aggressive appealing led to a fine by match referee Sidath
Wettimuny for attempting to intimidate the umpire.
His second Test, at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on a pitch
tending to help spinners, brought him unimagined success. Never
before had a Zimbabwean bowler taken ten wickets in a Test match.
Bowling in tandem with Paul Strang for most of the match, Adam
worked his way through the New Zealand line-up, taking six
wickets in the first innings and another five in the second when
the tourists were chasing runs. He proved expensive and produced
a fair number of bad deliveries, but his good ones were enough to
cause problems for the New Zealanders, who have very little
practice against leg-spinners. Perhaps in view of this, his
figures were slightly flattering and he was to find the going
much harder elsewhere. But it was still a remarkable start to a
Test career.
He admitted to feeling tired, quite naturally, at the end of the
match. He found the good degree of bounce in the pitch a help,
and concentrated on keeping the ball just outside the off stump.
He remembers the tactics were for him to bowl only googlies to
the big-hitting Chris Cairns, and he dismissed him cheaply in
both innings.
In view of his comparative lack of accuracy, Adam was omitted
from the one-day internationals against the New Zealanders, but
played in five of the six matches on the tour to Kenya. He took
only two wickets, though, and proved expensive, so this was an
area of the game which clearly needed further work. Adam feels
that on this tour he was not getting close enough to the stumps
to bowl his best.
He had still not resolved the problem when the Zimbabweans toured
Sri Lanka. He took only one expensive wicket in the First Test
and was omitted from the Second. By his own admission, he was
too lacking in accuracy, but he worked on his problem and was
rewarded by a place in the third one-day international. He
bowled much better then, from closer to the stumps, and felt he
was in good form, although failing to take a wicket. Adam's
career bowling average in one-day internationals is at present
almost 100, a complete travesty of justice as he has so often
bowled well without taking wickets. His style of bowling is not
really suited to one-day cricket, but he has done far better and
bowled more valuably than his figures suggest.
He was given a lot of bowling to do on the tour of New Zealand
that followed, although the slow, low pitches in that country
hardly support his type of bowling. Returning home to face
Pakistan, he was remarkably omitted from the team for the First
Test on the Queens Sports Club ground where he had been so
successful against New Zealand. Reinstated for the Second Test,
he again bowled well but with only two rather expensive wickets
to show for his pains. If he enjoyed a degree of luck in his
great Test match against New Zealand, the balance has certainly
swung the other way since then.
The 1998/99 season was a rather frustrating one for him.
Zimbabwe had in effect an embarrassment of riches with both Adam
and Paul Strang available as leg-spinners, and the selectors
often had to choose between the two. Paul, and also off-spinner
Andrew Whittall, were more economical and therefore better suited
to one-day cricket; Adam was generally acknowledged as the better
Test bowler than Paul, who had become more defensively inclined
probably as the result of too much one-day cricket, but Paul's
superior batting often tipped the scales, especially as Zimbabwe
also played two other non-batsmen besides Adam in Henry Olonga
and Pommie Mbangwa.
An injury to Paul gave Adam a chance in the third one-day
international against India, and he bowled eight overs quite
economically for the wicket of Saurav Ganguly. In the Test
match, which was to provide Zimbabwe with only its second Test
victory in its history, he surprised with his highest Test score.
It was a valuable innings too, as he came in with the side
reeling on 181 for eight, with only Adam, Olonga and Mbangwa to
come. While Olonga defended, Adam hit out, and the pair added 33
valuable runs together, and Adam finished undefeated on 28 out of
the eventual total of 221. He bowled well but took only the
wicket of Ganguly, again, in the match.
In Sharjah Adam played in only one match of the five while Paul
got the nod, and also yielded to Paul in the one-day series in
Pakistan. Then came another injury to Paul, but Andrew Whittall
was preferred to Adam in the First Test, which Zimbabwe won.
Adam played in the second, on a seamer's pitch, but took two
wickets and also made a useful 13. If not an all-rounder yet, at
least he showed signs of coming to terms with his batting at the
top level. In the triangular tournament in Bangladesh, he played
in three matches out of five.
Adam was perhaps fortunate to be selected for the World Cup in
England, as pitches in that country are nowadays generally
unsuitable for spin, and Zimbabwe already had Strang and Whittall
as their regular one-day spinners, although in the Test arena
Adam was considered superior to either. They also had Grant
Flower's left-arm spinners to fall back on. It was perhaps
inevitable that Adam should spend more time in the nets than in
the middle, although he did play in three matches. This was
largely because Paul Strang's all-round form was declining,
though, until he lost his place in the team.
His first was at Chelmsford in the historic victory over South
Africa. Adam played a valuable part which is once again not
reflected in the statistics, helping to pin the South Africans
down with a vital spell of ten overs for 35 runs. He also played
against New Zealand, where rain prevented him from bowling, and
against Pakistan, where he dismissed Wasim Akram lbw second ball
and was himself the middle victim of Saqlain Mushtaq's hat-trick,
unwisely leaping down the pitch to his first ball to be
comprehensively stumped.
This in-and-out situation did nothing for his peace of mind,
though. At the start of the 1999/2000 season, he decided he had
had enough of going on one tour after another and spending so
much of his time out of the team. When the Zimbabwe Cricket
Union offered him another C-Grade contract he turned it down, and
still refused when it was improved to B-Grade. He announced that
he was giving up cricket altogether in favour of farming. The
authorities were now most concerned at the prospect of losing
such a fine talent, and continued to appeal to him to reconsider.
After a month, Adam eventually relented and agreed to return to
cricket, subject to farming commitments, but it was too late for
the Australian tour. It remains to be seen in the future whether
he will be able to pin down a regular place, although his
prospects look better with Paul Strang's continued loss of form
and confidence.
Alistair Campbell feels that Adam's fellow leg-spinner Paul
Strang, when in form, is more consistent than Adam; Adam bowls a
bit quicker and turns the ball more, and they complement each
other very well. Adam has the ability to bowl genuine
wicket-taking deliveries, while Paul keeps it tight from one end,
so they are able to keep the pressure on the opposition.
Alistair refutes the suggestion that Adam might bowl better still
if he slowed down a bit. He compares Adam to the Indian bowler
Anil Kumble, who hurries the ball on to the batsman, except that
Adam turns the ball more. When he succeeds in bowling one of his
best deliveries, the batsman is committed to the shot and does
not have time to adjust. Adam often gives his top-spinner a lot
of air, and he bounces it as well. With more consistency in line
and length, Adam should reach still greater heights.
Interestingly, Adam finds little difference between playing
cricket in South Africa and in Zimbabwe, except that there are
many more players down there and there is more money in the game.
The pitches he finds similar, the same kind of people play, and
he doesn't feel there is significantly more aggression in the
South African game than in Zimbabwe.
Adam has no specific ambitions, but just looks forward to
continuing to play and enjoy the game. When pushed, he thinks of
Steve Waugh, against whom he bowled in his early Zimbabwe days,
as perhaps the best batsman he has bowled against. Although
South African batting has some doughty performers, he cannot name
any of them as being in a class of his own; he has rarely bowled
against Hansie Cronje, who often takes spinners apart.