Campbell steps down

of selectors.
A statement from Zimbabwe Cricket yesterday said Campbell had resigned “with immediate effect” and will be replaced by former wicketkeeper/batsman Wayne James.
James is a former national team player who played four Tests and 11 One-Day Internationals for Zimbabwe and will join Kevin Curran and Givemore Makoni on the selection panel.
Campbell had served two years as chairman of the panel and since his appointment in July 2009, he has had the dual responsibilities of both convener of selectors and chairman of the ZC board’s cricket committee.

He expressed the desire to concentrate on his activities with the Cricket Committee as well as his work as a cricket commentator.
“It has been the greatest of pleasures to select the sides that have spearheaded Zimbabwe’s return to Test cricket and I feel now that it would be best to concentrate my expertise on governing the structure of the game as part of the cricket committee.

“I have every confidence in the panel I leave behind and look forward to watching teams that are a true representation of the vast amount of talent and experience we have in this country,” said Campbell.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor has praised visiting New Zealand for their flying start to the tour after they completed a series win in the Twenty20 version of the game at Harare Sports Club on Monday.
The Black Caps completed a 2-0 win over the hosts with a 34-run win, having registered a 10-wicket victory at the same venue on Saturday, giving New Zealand confidence ahead of the ODIs and the one-off Test set for

Bulawayo. Taylor believes the Black Caps were well organised.
“They (New Zealand) are a well-organised group, they got the three departments right but on a positive note I think we showed a lot of encouraging signs today (on Monday),” said Taylor.

But Zimbabwe have themselves to blame as they put up a poor fielding show while the bowlers gifted New Zealand with runs that came from the 18 extras conceded.
There were some brilliant individual performances in the Zimbabwe camp with opening batsman Chamunorwa “Tsano” Chibhabha, posting a career best 65 runs off 39 deliveries with four fours and five sixes.

“Our biggest problem throughout the series has been that we have had a lot of dot balls when batting,” said Taylor. “In T20 the side that concedes a lot of dot balls will generally lose the match and it’s an area that we can certainly improve on.”

Black Caps’ captain Ross Taylor said the hosts fought hard in the last match.
“Zimbabwe came at us hard and were looking on course, but we pegged them back at the end,” said New Zealand captain Taylor.

“I thought the game was more close than the 30 odd runs we ended winning by, Zimbabwe showed a lot of fight and our team also showed a lot of fight to win the game.
“It’s my first series win as captain overseas. It’s always special but you don’t get carried away, there is still a lot of cricket to be played,” he said.