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A lesson in one-day cricket

Roshan Paul

You've got to admire this Zimbabwean team. They've been on the road in England for the better part of three months. In that time, they're being paid a pittance, expected to play for the honour of the country. This has reached such an extent that one of their best players has chosen to retire in the prime of his career to go play club cricket in Australia. So much for honour.

Furthermore, the political situation at home is one of unrest, violence, rigged elections and other instabilities. They have a President who is reckoned to be one of the most corrupt in the world and who is using the national army to further propagate a war in Congo in order to fill his own deep pockets. Several of the players are farmers whose lands are under threat.

Yet, they are winning.

Granted they were humiliated in the first Test at Lord's. But with everything they've had to undergo, its understandable. From then on, they've been doing well. In the second Test, they had England on the ropes but rain intervened. Ever since, they've been traveling around the country, playing against the county sides and improving with every game.

Now, they have taught England and the West Indies, two sides basking in former glory and playing outdated cricket, an abject lesson in the one-day version of the game. Those two wins were not flukes. They were victories by a better team on the day; a team that knew exactly what it had to do and did it most professionally. They were also triumphs achieved with a second string bowling attack - - their three top bowlers are all injured.

Remarkable, isn't it?

In the first game, the West Indies paid dearly for not being aggressive in the first fifteen overs. They were so slow at the start that despite a run-a-ball fifty from Lara and a 23-ball 36 from Ricardo Powell at the end, they only managed 232. The West Indies also chose to play four specialist fast bowlers and once the Zimbabwean batsman got used to the pace and bounce, it was not hard to bat against them. The fact that Chris Gayle's apology for off-spin tied them down is enough evidence to show that lack of variety in the bowling department cost the West Indies.

Zimbabwe, on the other hand, scored at over five an over in their first fifteen overs and played one quickish bowler, four medium-pacers, (all competing to see who could bowl slower) and two left-arm spinners.

In the second game, they brought in more variety with the leg-spin of Paul Strang. An inspired move for England threw away a great start to collapse to him. Batsman after batsman either played against the spin or lofted the ball straight down the fielder's throat. From 120-1, England collapsed to 207.

In both games, they provided a lesson in batting second. They lost early wickets but then consolidated through aggressive but sensible batting and excellent running between wickets. Once they were back on track, they shifted gears and actually quickened the tempo. In the end, they finished both matches in a canter. Against England, they often batted in terrible light as well.

Dave Houghton, commentating for Sky Sports, believes that to do well in one-day cricket, you need to have two or three good partnerships and one of your top four batsmen has to get a big score. Zimbabwe have done exactly that and it has worked beautifully. Neil Johnson (vs. West Indies) and Alistair Campbell (vs. England) got the big scores, Andy Flower played two wonderful captain's knocks and Grant Flower - who is enjoying life in the middle order - provided the acceleration at the end to ensure that it wouldn't get too close.

Zimbabwe now have a great chance of making the final of the NatWest Series - something few would have believed possible. They may be overcome in the next few games because both England and the West Indies do have more firepower. But their temperament, having been suspect for so long, finally seems to be getting stronger. If they do make the final, then think hard before you bet against them.

And that, hopefully, would wipe that condescending smirk off David Gower's face.