Masakadza remains best man around

what is perhaps the greatest innings of the current Zimbabwe season, and one of the best of his career.
In the Logan Cup final at Mutare Sports Club against Matabeleland Tuskers, an intense battle for Zimbabwe’s premier cricket trophy, the Mountaineers team, which he captains, was collapsing badly against a strong bowling attack led by Keegan Meth.
But, with little support, Hamilton stood firm to score a superb 119, taking his team into a lead on the first innings.
Probably every schoolboy cricket-lover in the country wants to be like Hamilton. He is a tall, burly man of obviously great strength, and his batting at its best is supreme. He is also a very pleasant man unaffected by his success, and perhaps not believing in his own ability as much as he should.
He was a record-breaker from the start of his career: the first black Zimbabwean ever to make a century in first-class cricket, as well as the youngest of any race, and also became the youngest cricketer from any country to score a century on his Test debut, although this record was later beaten by Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh.
Those records were made ten years ago, and he is still only 27, with what should be his best years ahead. Hamilton first gained an interest in cricket when in Grade 5 at Mbizi Primary School in the Harare township of Highfield, through the well-known coach Stephen Mangongo. He progressed to Churchill High School on a cricket scholarship, and was still attending that school when he made the records noted above, including even his Test century. Also on scholarship in that same year were his close friends Stuart Matsikenyeri, Tatenda Taibu and Vusi Sibanda, so it was certainly a vintage year for cricket. After leaving school he decided to earn a degree at the University of the Free State in South Africa, and so was lost to Zimbabwe cricket for most of three years, although he did play at times up here during the holidays. Many people think he lost some vital cricketing experiences during those years that he has never recovered, but Hamilton disagrees.
“I think I actually learned quite a bit there and my cricket kept improving while I was there, playing on South African wickets against the South Africans. I think this has put me in good stead, looking back now, because there are a few things I picked up there about my technique that I’m still using now, so I don’t think that held me back at all. And I still managed to play internationals even before I finished.”
Hamilton naturally felt delighted at his successful innings yesterday.
“I think it was a pretty good one,” he says, “especially as the wicket wasn’t playing so well, especially in the morning, and also because we were a little bit on the back foot, because we kept losing wickets throughout the whole innings.”
He does put it behind his 208 not out at Kwekwe Sports Club last October, though, when his team was forced to follow on by Mid-West Rhinos, but his innings was largely responsible for Mountaineers saving the match. But what about his Test debut century? He laughs, “If we take everything into account, I think the Test century still remains the best one. And obviously my first one-day hundred as well, against Bangladesh, is also up there.
“And I’ve had a few this season when our backs have been against the wall, because I had a similar thing when we were playing against Mashonaland, because we were 20 for four at one stage and I got another hundred then.
“But I still think that, in terms of the pressure and in terms of the impact, the double-hundred was the best one.”
Hopefully Hamilton will have some more Test centuries to his credit by the end of the year – ten years after the first. Has Hamilton yet worked out why he had such a bad run in international cricket?
“Not really. I was feeling quite good, but maybe the mindset sometimes, I tried to be too aggressive too early. It was a bit hard as well in South Africa because we were chasing in excess of 300 most of the time, so we didn’t have time to play ourselves in.
“I thought maybe I played a few too many shots too early, but with the scores we were chasing I had to. In Bangladesh obviously there were always difficult conditions, so that’s another place I didn’t get too many. It also didn’t help that I wasn’t playing all the games: I was playing a game, then dropped for the next one, and then playing again, instead of continuity. “But in terms of my technique, I was feeling quite good in the nets; I didn’t really have a stage where I was struggling for a long period, but the runs just weren’t coming. So for me it’s just a case of carrying on doing those right things and it’s only a matter of time before the runs start coming again.”
Hamilton has been used as an opener for the last few seasons in one-day internationals, but would he benefit from going lower down the order?
“I think I’ve done all the jobs from the national team: I’ve batted lower down and I’ve opened, and I think the top three would still be my best place to bat, because you get a lot more time to bat in the innings and a lot more opportunity to get bigger scores. I’m looking forward to getting back to Test cricket and playing in the longer version at the highest level again, playing some big innings for the country.”
A batsman’s prime years are generally between the ages of about 27 and 32, when he still has the quickness of youth, to which are added years of experience. It will be surprising if the next few years do not see Hamilton a better player than ever before – and with more records yet to come. – Zimcricket.