Young Zimbabwe players need to learn fast

After a debacle in Bulawayo, we will be looking forward to a much better show in the up coming Test which starts today at Harare Sports Club.

Most of what happened in Bulawayo is best put out of mind and forgotten except "yours truly" recording his second Test hundred in the second innings. Opening the batting has obviously been very productive for me thus far, but sterner tests lie around the corner.

It has always been an enigma to most - and that is the inconsistency of Zimbabwe's performance. We have recognized this as players and have been unable to address the issue. We have the ability to play like Trojans and look world class one day, and then play like third league amateurs the next day.

That was the case with the Indians not so long ago, when we lost by eight wickets in Bulawayo and then came back to win in Harare, inside four days. We have to pull the same performance out of the archives and repeat it.

We have more injury worries with Stuart Carlisle breaking his little finger. This means that Hamilton Masikadza the 17-year-old Churchill boy will probably be making his debut. I do not expect there to be any other major changes but then again we have come to expect the unexpected. We are a very youthful side that takes to the field tomorrow, but a side that I believe can do the job!

Yesterday evening was the Zimbabwe Cricket Union Annual Awards Ceremony. It was a very low key affair, with all the club sides receiving cash awards from National Breweries, the National League sponsor. The highlight of the evening was the award for the most improved Under-21 cricketer of the year, which was won very deservingly by Deon Ebrahim.

The main trophy for the cricketer of the year was won by guess who? In a step to acknowledge contributions made by certain players to the game of cricket in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union also awarded cash to those who have played over 50 Test matches and fifty One Day Internationals. It was a generous gesture and much appreciated by those concerned.

However, we now have a Test Match to win and how nice it would be to finish on a winning note and remain unbeaten in a Test Series this winter.