adminTristan Holme
WHEN John Hampshire was appointed coach of Zimbabwe in the lead-up to their first Test match in 1992, the Yorkshireman was quick to lay out the extent of their ambitions.The batsmen were taught how to leave, and the bowlers instructed to bowl a foot outside off stump.
When Zimbabwe crossed 400 in their first innings against India, taking nearly two days to do so, a player had the temerity to suggest that they might declare.
Hampshire’s spiky response made it clear that they would be doing nothing of the sort.
Zimbabwe drew the match, and viewed it like a victory.
Forever the underdog (aside from the years of Bangladesh’s Test infancy), Zimbabwe’s ambitions have rarely risen since.
The country’s pitches are the very definition of ‘nondescript’, boasting little pace, average bounce, no real turn to speak of.
Little wonder then that, asked how difficult it had been to take 10 wickets on the final day to beat Zimbabwe in their 100th Test, Rangana Herath’s eyes became wide as the air escaped from his mouth.
In truth it shouldn’t have even been close.
With Tino Mawoyo and Brian Chari seeing off the first hour of the day, Mawoyo and Hamilton Masakadza taking care of the second, and lots of batting to come, Zimbabwe should have notched up the 27th draw in their history, leaving everyone to debate Herath’s decision not to declare earlier.
“You cannot plan for whether it’s raining or not,” was how he saw it.
“We had a plan with the coaches to declare before the end of the (fourth) day but we couldn’t do that because of the rain. You can’t rely on the weather, so you have to keep on playing as it is.”
When Mawoyo got a rough decision from umpire Simon Fry, given out lbw to a delivery from Dilruwan Perera that was comfortably missing his leg stump, Zimbabwe embarked on their standard collapse and questions around Herath’s decision-making receded.
“We were really happy with the start we had, but then when we started to lose a few wickets we panicked,” said Graeme Cremer.
Yet over the next 45 minutes, the air of inevitability around Zimbabwe’s defeat dissipated.
Sean Williams and Peter Moor dug in, and Herath found himself being tested in his first Test as captain.
Unlike fifth-day pitches back home, he could not wheel away from one end all day knowing that he could do the job all on his own.
Nor could he post three slips and a gully and back his quicks to wrap it up. Field placements were changed, bowlers were rotated.
Eventually it was Lahiru Kumara who showed why he had been picked at the age of 19, with just two first-class matches under his belt.
“For me he’s an interesting character,” Herath said of Kumara. “He’s quick and I’m sure he’s a good prospect for Sri Lankan cricket. I tell you a lot of credit goes to the fast bowlers.
“There was not much assistance for the spinners and the Zimbabweans batted well. But the fast bowlers played their heart out and gave 100%, which is the main thing.”
That was the back of Zimbabwe’s innings broken, but Sri Lanka still had to contend with Cremer.
And Williams was in belligerent mood, blocking out delivery after delivery, then reverse-sweeping the spinners for four when he wanted to silence the fielders around the bat.
Before tea, Herath changed ends.
During the interval, clouds welled up in the south, as they had prior to the fourth evening being lost to rain. The light faded.
But fourth ball after the break, Williams edged to slip.
When Herath trapped Donald Tiripano lbw soon after, it looked like Herath was just doing what Herath does on the final day of Test matches: bowl his side to victory. — Cricinfo
Online Reporter