Grant Flower now seems permanently part of the Zimbabwean middle order, after opening the innings for years

John Ward12-Apr-2002Grant Flower now seems permanently part of the Zimbabwean middle order, after opening the innings for years. He is still worth his place in the team, but has still not regained his full form or his position as the banker of the Zimbabwe innings. He talks to CricInfo about the recent tour to India and other matters.I think I have now made seven visits to India, so I didn’t really pick up any new impressions this time. It was of course a hard tour and very tiring. We seemed to do a lot more travelling this time than usual. It’s always hard to play in Asia, with turning tracks and all that, but it’s always a good challenge and we played all right this time.The great plus factor of a tour to India are that there is a huge passion for the game over there and the crowds are very knowledgeable of the game and appreciative of your skills, even if you’re from the opposing sides. There are always huge crowds so there is always a great atmosphere. On the other hand, it is always very hot and there are turning tracks, so you’re playing them in their home conditions.Generally you find when touring that it’s very crowded and you’re hounded by autograph-seekers whatever you do. There’s not a lot to do off the field, either.It was a harder tour this time than it was eighteen months ago. It made a huge difference to have Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble playing for India this time; they both bowled really well, and Harbhajan especially. Zaheer Khan came back into form and he was a real threat; he got the ball to reverse-swing and at pace. So it was a totally different game with those players back.India also brought in some new players: that guy Virender Sehwag is a really class player; they still have Ganguly and Tendulkar, who are brilliant players. In the one-dayers they brought in Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, and they are definitely good prospects for the future. Yuvraj has already proved himself and Kaif has just come into the game.For our side, Alistair Campbell came back and played really well in the one-dayers. Raymond Price bowled brilliantly in the Tests and I think he should have stayed on for the one-dayers; anyway, that’s out of my control. Then Doug Hondo came through, as did `Pom’ Mbangwa, and I thought they bowled well in the one-dayers.Doug Hondo has been playing club cricket in Australia, and the guys were saying after their first practice that he had put on a bit of pace, maybe another yard. He’s definitely got a bit fitter and stronger, and I think that season in Australia definitely helped. And his fielding has improved a hundred per cent.I think, compared with the other spinners Zimbabwe has had in recent years, Raymond Price has got to be up there as one of the more attacking bowlers. He’s obviously a finger-spinner, as opposed to the leg-spinners we’ve had, Strang and Huckle. But he’s there or thereabouts with John Traicos, although obviously Traicos was an off-spinner. I think they’re both very good bowlers.Other than that, Andrew (Flower) and myself had varying degrees of success in the Tests and the one-dayers, so generally I think it was a pretty successful tour. Stuart Carlisle led the side well.Personally I think I’m hitting the ball pretty well and I had quite a good series in India. I had a few unlucky decisions and one or two run-outs in Tests and one-dayers. That’s part of cricket, but I think my confidence is there again. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep it going when I go overseas for the winter, and come back fresh for the new season.To me I’d have to say the most memorable match of the tour was the Second Test match, which we lost. We should have won that but for a dubious umpiring decision, then we could have shared the series. The decisions were for and against: we had some lucky decisions, but I think at that vital stage of the game, if Heath Streak had got that wicket, we could have won it.Then there was Doug Marillier’s innings to win the first one-day international. That was a freakish innings. He plays those shots (scoops to fine leg or over the keeper’s head) in the nets, and we’ve seen him to it to McGrath in the World Series. The coach obviously doesn’t like him to play that way, but when it comes off it’s spectacular.We were just sitting in the changing room laughing, and thinking, "He can’t keep going like this." But he did! He saw it through, and it was a brilliant piece of one-day cricket.Coming back to play Logan Cup cricket here in Zimbabwe was a big difference. Obviously the standard is nowhere near Test cricket, but I think, just like this last weekend (Mashonaland v Mashonaland A) we had a good game of four-day cricket here; it can only be good for Zimbabwe cricket in the long run, and they should keep persevering with it. Obviously the bowling attacks aren’t very strong, especially with the A side in Namibia, but you just have to make the most of it, and if you get in on a good wicket, it’s first-class runs. I think it can only help our first-class structure in the end – if we keep playing it. Especially for the youngsters coming through.I think my century was one of the easiest I’ve scored in first-class cricket (he scored 235 not out), but it was a flat wicket here at Sports Club for this match. If you just played straight and left the ball when the need arose, you have to get runs; if you didn’t get yourself out, you wouldn’t get out. Hopefully it did provide an example to the youngsters in building an innings.We very much appreciated having a full working scoreboard here at Sports Club for the first time in a Logan Cup match. I think Gavin Johnstone-Robertson and a few of the other guys did it really well and it can only help to get a bit of support like that.I’ve only just heard of the plans to play a double round of Logan Cup matches next season. I suppose the more cricket you play can only help, as long as it’s organized properly and the right structures are in place. I disagree totally with the plan to reduce Logan Cup matches to three days, though. Three-day cricket is not good – you get premature declarations, you get declaration bowling, and it just lowers the standard. I think four-day cricket is much better preparation for a Test match, so I think that’s a bad proposal.If they want a one-day competition as well, in place of a fourth day’s play, they should have that as well: a four-day competition and a one-day competition, and get them both in. The other countries seem to do it, so I don’t see why we can’t. I feel adamant that we should play four-day cricket; that sort of competition shouldn’t just be thrown away.I will be going overseas with Stuart Carlisle in May to play for Lashings Cricket Club in Kent. That’s for four months, and then we’re back here in September to prepare for the Mini World Cup in Sri Lanka. Other than that, we just have Pakistan coming out here in November, and that’s the only international cricket we’ve got at home until the World Cup.I think Lashings get various sponsors to pay top players to play for them, and they do various functions throughout the season. They play in the local league and also they play various celebrity matches around the country. So you’re playing with really good players and you can only learn off them, and be better off for it in the future.