Tour of  New Zealand 1995-96           Captain: Andy Flower

Zimbabwe’s third Test tour

First Test-playing tour of New Zealand by Zimbabwe

   (January - February  1996)

1996 saw Zimbabwe’s busiest international programme yet. The year began looking for a first Test win away from home in a wooden spoon contest against New Zealand. The team lost its most experienced player when Houghton broke a bone in his foot while scoring a century in the second Test in New Zealand. The injury required six weeks to heal which also ruled him out of the 1996 World Cup.

When the last match ended on 4 February the team travelled straight to India with little break.  This made it almost a three-month long tour, and many of the players were worn out by the end of the World Cup, with all its long-distance travelling but they then faced the Logan Cup final which was pushed back to March 1996 because so many leading players would be away on this tour or at the World Cup. 

Andy Flower was by now feeling the strain of being the team’s key batsman, keeping wicket and leading the side and would soon stand down. With Dave Houghton about to take on other duties, the selectors needed to look for a new captain but it would inevitably be one without much experience.

The tour brought John Hampshire's spell as coach to an end. Zimbabwe’s poor showing in the ’96 World Cup was a flat way to bring his four years of service to a close, and the Cricket Union acknowledged the part he had played in launching their journey into Test cricket.

Other Zimbabwe tours

Previous tour

Pakistan 1993-94

Next tour

Sri Lanka 1996

Next tour of New Zealand

1997-98

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen:Stuart Carlisle, Craig Evans, Grant Flower.

Middle order  Alistair Campbell, Sean Davies, David Houghton, Guy Whittall, Craig Wishart

Wicket-keeper/batsman : Andy Flower

Fast bowlers  Eddo Brandes, Charlie Lock, Henry Olonga, Heath Streak, Bryan Strang

Spin bowlers : Stephen Peall, Paul Strang

District Teams:   

Mat Matabeleland (3)

Msh Mashonaland (4)

Y Msh  Young Mashonaland (2)

CD Country Districts  (7)

The only professional cricketers were the two Flower brothers, Houghton and Campbell

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(13 January 1996) :

         25 yrs  10 months

Key to type:

RHB Right-handed bat

RM  Right arm medium-paced bowler

RFM  Right-arm fast medium

OB   Off break

WC  Member of the World Cup playing squad

Test Appearances made before the tour

Campbell 14,  A Flower 14,  G W Flower 14,  Houghton 14,  Streak 10,  G J Whittall 10,  Brandes 6,  P A Strang 5,  Peall 4,  Carlisle 3,  B C Strang 3,  Lock 1,  Olonga 1,  Wishart 1,  Davies 0,  Evans 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Chris Seager,  Babu Meman,  Dennis Streak,  John Hampshire.

The team was selected at a meeting on 29 November 1995 but the announcement delayed for more than a week until the squad was ratified by ZCU President Peter Chingoka

Selection

Unavailable: 

Firstly, the selectors met to choose an initial squad of twenty names for the tour to be trimmed down to fifteen before the tour of New Zealand.

Tour Party Announced :  7 December 1995.

Not selected :  Mark Burmester, Mark Dekker, Craig Evans, Wayne James and Gary Martin were in the initial squad of 20 but not selected for the Test tour party.  By the time the team left Zimbabwe Mark Dekker and Mark Burmester had already been dropped from the World Cup plans, too.

Time between announcement of selection and departure for New Zealand

       21 days

(7 December  to 28 December)

Travel

Harare  Q   ?    

Auckland  Q   Bombay   

The Zimbabweans left Harare on Thursday 28 December 1995 for New Zealand, en route to the World Cup.

The tour was completed on 3 February and the team flew to India for the World Cup three days later. They left Auckland on 6 February and met up with the three other Zimbabweans added to the tour group (Andy Waller, Babu Meman and Sandy Flanagan) in Bombay

Peter Chingoka left Harare for Calcutta on 6 February to attend an ICC meeting concerning participating teams not playing their World Cup fixtures in Sri Lanka because of fears about security.

Time spent in New Zealand

   x days

(? December - 6 February)

On-tour selection panel

John Hampshire (coach),  Andy Flower  (captain),  Dave Houghton  (vice-captain),  Dennis Streak (manager)

Reinforcements

Dave Houghton, who would have become the only Zimbabwean to compete in four World Cups, broke the second metatarsal in his foot. Out for six weeks, he would miss the World Cup and said “I’m as shattered as my foot”. 

CraigEvans (of Mashonaland Country Districts) was brought in, and Andy Waller would take Houghton’s place in the World Cup. Waller left Harare on Monday 5 February, accompanied by Babu Meman and Sandy Flanagan, and arrived in India the next day.

Alistair Campbell had first been appointed as vice-captain of the limited-overs team touring Australia in 1994/95, temporarily replacing Dave Houghton who was not available for the full duration of the tour. Now again on this tour Campbell had to resume the vice-captaincy as Houghton went home.

Henry Olonga also returned early from the tour. His bowling in the first Test was expensive and erratic.

Fixtures/Results

§  ODI

ϯ not first-class

Time spent in New Zealand before First Test: 

      x days

(December - 13 January)

Test appearances on tour

2 -  Brandes, Campbell, Carlisle, A Flower, G Flower, Houghton, B Strang, P Strang, Streak, G Whittall.

1 - Olonga, Wishart.

Highlights

•   In the final ODI at Napier New Zealand were on course for victory when Charlie Lock took the last five wickets for five runs in 11 balls.

Tour Summary

Return to Zimbabwe

Auckland   Q Bombay

Bombay   Q    Harare

Dave Houghton and Henry Olonga left the tour early.  On returning to Bulawayo Olonga was told not to respond to questions from the press about the trip

Carlisle and Wishart were not members of the World Cup side.

Babu Memon was to be the team manager for the World Cup. He left Harare with Andy Waller and Sandy Flanagan, the physio, on Monday 5 February and arrived at Bombay on 6 February.

The Zimbabwean squad flew out of Auckland, together with the New Zealanders' World Cup side, on 6 February, landing in Bombay and joining up with the three who had arrived earlier on Wednesday 7 February and immediately started their net-practice. 

Peter Chingoka left Harare for Calcutta on 8 February, to attaend an ICC meeting about bowling actions. He would also meet the Zimbabwe team “..to try and boost the morale of the team ahead of the World Cup.”

On 21 February 1996 the team flew from Hyderabad (after a three hour delay) to Colombo and were greeted with huge security protection against possible terrorist violence.  

After the World Cup, they returned to Zimbabwe on 10 March (?)

Time away from Zimbabwe  (while in New Zealand and in India for the World Cup)

         73 days  

(28 December - 10 March)

Finances

Written accounts of the tour

Postscript

Players like Kevin Arnott, Iain Butchart and John Traicos had been lost to the game because of the demands of their work. The Zimbabwe Cricket Union was planning to use sponsorship money to encourage players to turn professional, and avoid them missing overseas tours because of work commitments. Only four players at this time - Houghton, Campbell and the two Flower brothers - were professionals. 

When the last match ended on 4 February the team travelled straight to India with little break.  This made it almost a three-month long tour, and many of the players were worn out by the end of the World Cup,  with all its long-distance travelling.

At the end of the tour John Hampshire was replaced as coach by David Houghton. Hampshire’s four years of service came to an end in April and Houghton was appointed at the end of July 1996 - but he already had commitments with Worcestershire, so he was unable to join the team in Sri Lanka.