Gavin Rennie - a Short Biography

Full Name: Gavin James Rennie

Born: 12 January 1976, at Fort Victoria (now Masvingo)

Major Teams: Mashonaland Under-24/Young Mashonaland (1993/94-1995/96), Mashonaland (1996/97- ).

Present club team: Alexandra

Known As: Gavin Rennie. Nicknames: `Tommy Lobels' (because he loves bread), 'Leguaan Labuschagne' (Zimbabwe's equivalent of Crocodile Dundee).

Batting Style: Left Hand Bat

Bowling Style: Slow Left Arm

Occupation: works for freight company

First-Class Debut: Zimbabwe Board XI v Northern Transvaal B, at Centurion Park, 10 December 1993

Test Debut: Zimbabwe v New Zealand, at Harare Sports Club, 18 September 1997

ODI Debut: Zimbabwe v Pakistan, at Quetta, 30 October 1996

BIOGRAPHY: (September 1999)

For several years since the retirement of Kevin Arnott, the most glaring weakness of the Zimbabwe Test team was the lack of a consistent opening partner for Grant Flower. After Gavin Rennie's first Test match, though, it appeared that the right man has finally been found. Against New Zealand, at Harare Sports Club, Gavin scored 23 and 57, sharing in opening partnerships of 47 and 156, a new Zimbabwe record, with Grant. Further good innings in Bulawayo, including another fifty and century opening partnership, confirmed that impression. He batted impressively and looks well set for a long career if he keeps building on this fine foundation.

Gavin, the younger brother of Test all-rounder John Rennie, was naturally first introduced to cricket, and to other ball sports, notably tennis, by his father Peter. When very young, he remembers playing on the lawn of his grandfather's house in Masvingo.

His cricketing education continued when he attended Bryden Country School, in Chegutu, where he was coached by Tony Brouse. He was one of the two leading members of a good team, the other being the coach's son Paul, and he has a good memory of his performances then, and indeed throughout his career. He remembers taking two hat-tricks while at junior school and scoring 118 against Lilfordia, one of the strongest junior school teams in the country. He always bowled spin, being taught the art by the legendary former national slow left-arm bowler Richie Kaschula. In Grade 5 he was selected to play for Midlands in the Partridges inter-provincial cricket week for primary schools, in Bulawayo, with most of the participants being two years his senior. Among his opponents were Heath Streak and Craig Wishart

In both the following years, 1987 and 1988, he captained the Midlands team during the annual Week, and in 1989 toured the United Kingdom with the Mashonaland Country Districts Under-13 team, as captain. He played successfully all sports available at Bryden, notably swimming, hockey and tennis, and in his final year won the Bryden Award for the most outstanding pupil and sportsperson.

He then moved to St George's College in Harare, where he was coached by Mike Nash. He forced his way into the first team when only in Form 2. In Form 3 he was awarded his first-team colours, one of only eight to be honoured so early in this way during the century of the school's existence. That same year he was selected not only for the Fawns, the national Under-15 team, but also for the Zimbabwe Under-17 team to tour England, and for the Under-19 team which toured Australia and the Far East. He continued to play as an all-rounder, taking regular five-wicket hauls or better, as well as scoring prolifically with the bat, including several hundreds. He kept his hand in with other sports, playing first-team tennis for the school while in Form 3, but cricket was always his forte.

He was already playing plenty of adult cricket, starting off playing for Enterprise in the Mashonaland Country Districts Winter Cricket league; he particularly remembers the help and encouragement he received from Roger and Andrew Staunton. It is in winter cricket that he recorded his highest score to date, an innings of 187.

He also played first-league cricket in Harare for the local Old Georgians club, where Kevin Murphy, the wicket-keeper, looked after him well. He believes that at the age of 15 he topped the first-league bowling averages, figures which are no longer available, ahead of such players as John Traicos and Eddo Brandes. His performance included ten wickets in the match in the Logan Cup final (at that stage the Logan Cup was being played for by club teams) against Harare Sports Club, a two-day match. This was to be his last season as a front-line bowler, however.

After leaving school, he played for two seasons in England, for the Oxton club in Birkenhead, in the Liverpool League, and for Bangor in Northern Ireland, where the Irish cricketer John Elder looked after him well. He has to thank Kevin Murphy and Peter Keen of the Country Districts for arranging those posts for him. He didn't do particularly well in his first season, being still only 17 at the time and still lacking experience. He did rather better during the second year, with Bangor, scoring a couple of centuries and a few fifties.

From about the age of 16, though, his bowling had been in decline. He sustained a lower lumbar back injury, from which he still has not completely recovered, and it also sapped his confidence. He was by now playing as a batsman who could also bowl, and did not take many wickets overseas. This has been a serious setback, as many rated his bowling even higher than his batting during his schooldays.

Just before his eighteenth birthday, Gavin, now recognised as a player of great potential, played first-class cricket, being selected as an opening batsman for the Zimbabwe Board XI in the UCBSA Bowl competition against South African provinces, and then for the Mashonaland Under-24 team, when he opened the innings with Grant Flower. That season he scored 309 runs at an average of 28.09, with two fifties, but the next two seasons were less successful.

In 1995 Gavin moved from Old Georgians to the Alexandra Club in Harare to further his career. He felt that at Old Georgians he was not getting the opportunities he required, with seven national players all in the team, as well as Sean Davies. He was placed at number eight and frequently found himself only going in for the last few overs of a 60-over innings. This may have helped to account for his slow progress at first-class level. So Gavin, who admits he was struggling at the time, and Sean Davies moved to Alex, as it is commonly known, and helped to strengthen the team. Alex, then a weak team, quickly became a force to be reckoned with, and Gavin pays tribute to Andy Pycroft for the difference that he made at the club.

A century in a three-day match, not adjudged first-class, against the touring Western Province team did most to win Gavin a place in the Zimbabwe team to tour Pakistan, which he rates as a 'baptism of fire'. He himself feels uncertain that one century should have qualified him for selection for a Test tour, but the selectors obviously still rated his talents highly, unlike some of the local 'experts'. He was selected for two one-day internationals, but without success.

Following this tour, he was promoted at work, which was to prove a serious handicap to his cricket. He was required to work for twelve hours or more each day, which left him no time to practice. For the rest of the 1996/97 season, from November to April, he played very little cricket at all, missing out on the England tour and those which followed it. This is the main regret of his career to date. However, he was able to score 132 for the Zimbabwe Board XI against Boland B, but his team was now in the division no longer rated as first-class. He was working in a storage business, but a company called Transfreight saw that he was getting no opportunity to play cricket, so they approached him with a good job offer which also allowed him time to train and play cricket.

Expecting to have to struggle to find his way back in top-level cricket, Gavin worked very hard at his game from the end of June, and felt in very good form once the 1997/98 season started. A maiden first-class century for Mashonaland A, with another fifty in the second innings, against a Mashonaland attack consisting entirely of international players set his standard, and he followed this with 74 for Zimbabwe Country Districts against the New Zealanders. This clinched his place in the Test team, with fine results, although he realises that with the weak New Zealand attack at that time he could not have had an easier introduction to Test cricket.

Gavin is not generally thought of as a one-day player, yet he has turned in some good performances in this version of the game too. Zimbabwe would never have won the second one-day international against New Zealand without his calm innings of 72. With Zimbabwe chasing 186 to win, Zimbabwe slumped to 42 for three, after some rather indiscriminate batting by more experienced batsmen, but Gavin was still there, playing a steady innings, when Alistair Campbell joined him. The two shared a partnership of 123 which was vital in winning the match. Gavin's job, he says, was to play the anchor role, aim to bat through the innings and keep the singles coming to feed the strike to his more experienced partners; this day he played the role to perfection. Ironically, he was dropped in the order for the next one-day match: with Zimbabwe facing a huge total, the captain felt it wise to send his more experienced players in first, and by the time Gavin was eventually sent in at number eight defeat was inevitable.

Since then, Andy Flower returned as a one-day opener, and later Alistair Campbell took over the job. In Kenya Gavin was shunted around between numbers three and six before eventually being kept at three, in which position he scored a fine 76 in the second final against the home team. Still, he felt he was being given good opportunities and experience in a variety of positions. But in Sri Lanka he lost his place in the one-day side and has still not regained it permanently, despite some useful performances when the run chase was on.

When introduced to Test cricket against New Zealand, he took to the new experience very capably and was ready for the pressure of the highest level. He noted how few bad balls he received, even from the inexperienced New Zealand attack and even to the right/left opening combination he formed with Grant Flower. He felt in peak form and was disappointed not to have taken one of his fifties through to a century.

His form had declined by the time the team set off for Sri Lanka and New Zealand, though. For some reason which he is unable to explain, he found that his footwork became rigid and he was not getting into line as well as he should. At first he still managed to score runs by gritting his teeth and concentrating hard, and scored a lengthy and invaluable fifty in the First Test against Sri Lanka. There was plenty of turn on the pitches there, but he felt he got away with his lack of form at first.

On the green seaming pitches of New Zealand, though, he suffered a nightmare tour. Without adequate footwork, a problem shared with several other Zimbabwean batsmen on that trip, he found himself constantly pushing at balls outside the off stump and frequently edging catches to the keeper. Simon Doull in particular had him in difficulties, swinging the ball both ways, and Gavin found himself constantly failing to get in position quickly enough. Naturally this also led to a loss of personal confidence.

He was disappointed, though, to be dropped for the First Test against Pakistan on his return to Zimbabwe. There was no obvious replacement, and Dirk Viljoen, called in to do an unenviable job, failed, highlighting an act perhaps of desperation by the selectors after their team's unsuccessful tour. Gavin was restored to the job for the Second Test, but much of his confidence had evaporated.

It had been a very up-and-down season in terms of form, as Gavin admits. He spent the winter working in the sales and marketing department of Transfreight and playing winter cricket for Enterprise. He made frequent scores of between 40 and 80, but found the cricket unchallenging, with few opposition bowlers of real quality. He did not feel his place in the Test team is yet secure, and knew he might have to work hard to keep his place in the 1998/99 season.

The selectors were faced with a problem at the start of the season, after Grant Flower broke a finger in a club match, putting him out of the tour by India. Gavin was given a single one-day match, batting in the middle order again where he scored a useful 28 off 27 balls in the third match of the series, which Zimbabwe won. He and Craig Wishart were selected to open the batting in the Test match, and they rose to the occasion superbly. Gavin made the top Zimbabwean score in both innings, 47 and 84, and the makeshift opening pair shared partnerships of 42 and 130.

In the second innings Gavin looked set to reach his maiden Test century as he progressed carefully but confidently to 84. He was then hit on the helmet trying to hook Javagal Srinath and had to retire hurt. On his return he admits he felt too tentative and defensively inclined after the mishap; he prodded at his first ball, from spinner Harbhajan Singh, and was caught at short leg. It was a disappointing end to a fine innings.

He visited Sharjah for the one-day tournament against India and Sri Lanka, but only played in two matches, despite scoring 40 runs for once out off 58 balls and helping to build useful partnerships. Despite his rather defensive reputation, he has an overall one-day record easily comparable with those of such rivals as Craig Wishart, Stuart Carlisle and Dirk Viljoen.

The team continued to Pakistan, where Gavin played in only one one-day match, without success, out of three. He was again Grant Flower's opening partner in the Tests, though, but did little in Zimbabwe's first overseas Test victory at Peshawar, twice out cheaply to Wasim Akram. He describes it as a fantastic match, though, with the whole team pulling together.

In the Second Test he was caught off Waqar Younis for just 3 in the first innings, when Zimbabwe fell 142 runs behind. He and Grant Flower went in to bat on the fourth afternoon with survival being the only option left to Zimbabwe. He describes Pakistan's bowling then as the fastest he had ever faced, especially Shoaib Akhtar. It was a moral victory simply to survive, as he and Grant did with great courage and determination for 12 overs of extreme pace, before bad light brought play to a close. This survival gave Gavin the confidence to believe that Zimbabwe could hold out on the final day, but in the event fog caused it to be abandoned without a ball being bowled.

This was to be his last international cricket for almost a year. The third Test was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to more fog, handing Zimbabwe their first Test series victory. The only international cricket the team had to play then before the World Cup was a one-day tournament in Bangladesh. Gavin, who took a month off to have a foot operation, was selected for neither. However he did return in September for the quadrangular tournament in Kenya, just before the Australian tour.

Given the choice, Gavin would prefer to bat at four or five in the middle order, but this is unlikely to be a luxury open to him at present, especially when he has done so well in the opening spot. His reputation in the past has been one of a rather defensive player, rather like Grant Flower in the early part of his career. On his Test debut he played second fiddle to Flower, who was in superb form, but kept the scoreboard moving comfortably with some good strokes, becoming quite adventurous at times. Unlike his predecessors Mark Dekker and Stuart Carlisle, he plays comfortably off both front and back foot, and can score all round the wicket. He is quite prepared to open the innings, confident in a sound technique and without fear of pace.

In the short-term, Gavin's main aim is simply to keep his place in the Test team, and also to earn a place in the one-day side. Looking further to the future, he is still hungry for runs and wants to get his bowling back on track, so that he will be recognised as a genuine all-rounder. The best bowler he has faced so far in his career has been Wasim Akram, while no batsman has given his bowling more trouble than Dave Houghton: 'he loves spin and hits the ball hard and wide'.