The first three Zimbabwe-Sri Lanka one-day internationals in retrospect
Even now that they have started winning the toss again, Zimbabwe have not been able to get their act together on the cricket field
John Ward
16-Dec-1999
Even now that they have started winning the toss again, Zimbabwe
have not been able to get their act together on the cricket
field. After three one-day internationals out of five against
Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe have lost two and put themselves out of the
series already, while one was left drawn due to rain.
Our weakened bowling attack is doing its job, most of the time,
as well as can be expected, while the fielding is generally good
if not at its best. It is the batting which is letting the side
down for one match after another - the middle order this time.
Our openers have done a fine job - up to a point - with opening
stands in successive matches of 51, 91 and 81.
It did look rather risky, in one sense, sending in two
out-of-form batsmen to open the Zimbabwean batting in the one-day
matches, but at the start of the series we only had one in-form
batsman and he was also captain and wicket-keeper. But Grant
Flower has found his strokes and some confidence, if not his big
scores, while the much-maligned Alistair Campbell has worked hard
to keep his concentration and play down the line, and they have
given the team three excellent starts. The only complaint is
that so far neither has gone on to make a really big score or bat
through the innings, as has been shown to be necessary.
The players have been full of praise for the fine pitch and
practice facilities in Bulawayo, although the press are less than
enthusiastic about that venue. The nets in Harare have been too
damp and the pitch too liable to favour the bowlers, and it is
felt that the sad death of the head groundsman there during the
Australian tour has had a very detrimental effect on the general
preparation.
The Bulawayo crowds were disappointing, though, as was the
midweek crowd in Harare, and it remains to be seen how many will
turn out for the final matches this coming weekend. Poor
marketing by the local administrators has been blamed, as has the
lack of what is perceived by the public to be 'attractive'
opposition, as the South Africans and Australians were. There
have also been complaints from several sources that prices are
too high for the one-day internationals, especially for children.
Perhaps also three tours in such a short period of time
represent something of an overkill for the public, especially as
the national team has been consistently losing.
Zimbabwe were further handicapped in this series by the absence
of Neil Johnson, who has flown to Durban to see his long-standing
physio in an attempt to get him fit for bowling again in the
triangular tournament in South Africa starting next month. With
Streak and Strang still out and Blignaut also injured, Zimbabwe
were lacking four probable bowlers.
The Zimbabwean bowlers began the series badly, bowling too short
and wide to Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana, two batsmen who thrive
on that type of rubbish. They ran up 96 together at a rate of
eight an over, but it was in fact a very creditable performance
for the Zimbabweans to pull back from that sort of onslaught to
restrict them in the end to 284 for nine. Russel Arnold was the
only batsman able to dominate for long after that.
Zimbabwe made a strong challenge from the start, despite the
difficulty of a target of 285. Grant Flower hit four off-side
boundaries in the first five overs and dominated the opening
partnership, while Campbell was beginning to play his shots
confidently when the rain came. Zimbabwe were confident they
could have won this match in the end, and they were right. They
could - but, going by events in the next two matches, they
probably wouldn't. Had 25 overs been bowled, they might have
done well enough to win on the Duckworth-Lewis system, but that
is speculation and in such situations that sort of resolution to
a match is always unsatisfactory.
The second match will always be remembered as the one Zimbabwe
should have won, most of all by the players themselves. They
bowled and fielded brilliantly to reduce Sri Lanka to 103 for
seven, only for Arnold to score an outstanding century and get
enough help from his last three tail-end partners to set a target
of 213. No other Sri Lankan batsman reached 20, so without him
it would have been no contest. And all this on a fine batting
pitch. It is worth repeating that the bowlers and fielders did a
superb job, although some of the Sri Lankan top order had nothing
to be proud of.
Campbell and Flower gave Zimbabwe an excellent start, both
utterly determined not to give it away, and put on 91 together in
almost half the overs. After Flower fell, perhaps unwisely
trying to reach his fifty with a six, Andy Flower came in and
immediately stepped up the scoring rate with some good strokes.
It was his dismissal, once again, that proved to be the turning
point.
Madondo was quite unable to get the score moving, managing only
four runs off 22 balls, and this put pressure on Campbell, who
hit out after reaching his fifty and was caught at midwicket, an
almost identical dismissal to Andy Flower's. The required
scoring rate was over five an over, and there was some pressure
on Goodwin and Guy Whittall, who had to try and settle in and
keep the rate up at the same time. They did not quite succeed in
that, and both fell trying to accelerate; the later batsmen,
coming in with an escalating rate required, were not up to the
task. I wondered, though, when Gavin Rennie was seventh out with
18 needed off the last two overs, whether it might have been an
idea to send in Olonga next; some big hits were clearly needed
and if he stayed he would be more likely to reach the boundary
than Brent or Andrew Whittall. Zimbabwe needed somebody like
Andy Blignaut at this stage, as no big hits were forthcoming from
the others, nor did they look like coming.
The third match was another in which Zimbabwe were fully
competitive for most of the time, until the middle order threw
away their chances with a vengeance. Many of their batsmen must
have finished the day feeling bitterly disappointed with
themselves, and it is to be hoped they will be strong enough
mentally to put their failures right over the weekend, in the two
final matches of the series.
Andy Flower won the toss for the third time in the series and
followed the usual policy adopted by both sides throughout the
tour by putting the opposition in to bat. It was expected that
there would be a bit of life in the pitch during the first
half-hour or so, otherwise things were expected to be pretty even
for both teams. So it proved, and Atapattu played a valuable
innings for Sri Lanka with his 69. Arnold this time was kept
under restraint as the bowlers took care to give him no room to
drive off the front foot, and he eventually lost his wicket in
frustration.
The 200 did not come up until the 46th over, and with the
dismissal of Chandana and Dilshan soon afterwards and only
tail-enders left, it seemed that Zimbabwe had the innings all but
sewn up. Possibly there was a little over-confidence, but if so
it was soon shattered as Vaas and Wickramasinghe unleashed a
brief but blistering assault on the bowlers. Vaas hit 19 off 9
balls, Wickramasinghe 11 off 4 balls, and suddenly the total was
up to 248.
Grant Flower and Alistair Campbell countered with their most
impressive opening stand of the series, keeping well in touch
with the required run rate as they scored at five an over. Both
drove with particular fluency and confidence, and it was hard to
understand how they had scored so few runs hitherto during the
season. Then immediately after the drinks break the great
disaster (latest edition began).
It began with a run-out, a method of dismissal that the team
seems to have made all its own this season. It appeared that
Grant Flower played a ball towards midwicket, called for a single
and then changed his mind, but Campbell was committed. With a
dismissal inevitable, Campbell ran through and sacrificed his
wicket, a noble gesture. For a while it seemed as if Flower was
going to make amends for his friend's dismissal, but then with
the score on 100 he was again out just short of his fifty.
Then came the march of the lemmings, as one Zimbabwean batsman
after another hurled himself to self-destruction over the cliff.
Andy Flower most uncharacteristically placed his second ball in
the hands of deep square leg. In came Stuart Carlisle, replacing
Madondo in the team and getting an unprecedented chance to bat at
number five in an international match. Unfortunately on this
occasion he may have been in the right place but it was the wrong
time; it was his first match this season against the Sri Lankans
and he had to come in and face Muralitharan. The top-spinner
quickly did him and he was caught at the wicket.
The last hope was the partnership between Goodwin and Guy
Whittall, and when it ended, with Goodwin superbly caught low
down at midwicket by pace bowler Wickramasinghe, only Whittall
showed any fight and there were several further soft dismissals
before the innings came to its ignominious end.
Sri Lanka were now two-nil up with two matches to play and
Zimbabwe could not now win the series. Two victories over the
weekend would allow them to square the series, but the way the
middle order has batted tilts the odds against them. There will
have to be a vast improvement in that department if they are not
to suffer the humiliation of four defeats. Surely they cannot
continue to bat as badly as all that!