Tour of  South Africa 1999-00          Captain: Alistair Campbell

Zimbabwe’s ninth Test tour

First Test-playing tour of South Africa by Zimbabwe

   (November 1999)

Having just lost a Test match and all three of the limited-overs internationals against Australia by wide margins, Zimbabwe travelled to South Africa with a determination to do better.  This tour was brief, one of the shortest Test tours, consisting of one match and lasting for little more than a week but the South Africans’ return visit was even briefer for the second match of the two-Test series played in Harare beginning on 11 November.  

Without Heath Streak on tour, and with the leg-spinner Paul Strang and fast-medium Neil Johnson injured, the visitors’ bowling was far from threatening. Guy Whittall played a fighting innings of 85, having entered at number 8 with his team 79 for 6, but Zimbabwe were emphatically beaten by an innings and 13 runs.

Other Zimbabwe tours

Previous tour

Pakistan 1998-99

Next tour

West Indies 1999-00

Next tour of South Africa   2004-05

Members of the Test tour party (13)

Opening batsmen::  Trevor Gripper, Grant Flower, Gavin Rennie.

Middle-order batsmen: Murray Goodwin, Alastair Campbell, Guy Whittall

Wicket-keeper/batsman:  Andy Flower

Slow bowlers: Andy Whittall

All-rounder:  Neil Johnson

Fast bowlers: Pommie Mbangwa, Henry Olonga, David Mutendera, Brian Strang.

Representation in teams:   

Mat Matabeleland

Msh Mashonaland

Man  Manicaland

CD Country Districts

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(29 October 1999) :

   26 yrs  1 month

Key to type:

LHB Left-handed bat

RM  Right arm medium-paced bowler

RFM  Right-arm fast medium

OB   Off break

WK  Wicket-keeper

Test Appearances made before the tour

Campbell 34,   A Flower 34,  G W Flower 33,  G J Whittall 26,  BC Strang 14,  Olonga 11,  Rennie 11,  Goodwin 10,   A J Whittall 9,   Mbangwa 9,   Johnson 4,   Gripper 1,  Mutendera 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Andy Pycroft (convenor),  Iain Butchart,  Denis Streak,  Ali Shah,  Trevor Penney.

Selection

Unavailable:  Adam Huckle - he had retired when Paul Strang was preferred; but Strang was injured for this tour.

Tour Party Announced :  Monday 25 October 1999.

Not selected :  

Withdrawal  Heath Streak (chronic tendonitis in knee).  Heath Steak was selected but had a swollen knee which caused him to miss three ODIs against Australia.. He was given until the morning of the Test match on Friday 29th to prove his fitness, but doctors ruled him out beforehand.

Andy Blignaut was brought in as cover but pulled a muscle practising, so Pommie Mbangwa replaced him.

Time between selection and departure from Zimbabwe

  1 day

(25 October to 26 October)

Travel

Harare  Q  Johannesburg   Q  Bloemfontein

Trevor Gripper, Henry Olonga and Bryan Strang went to South Africa on 19 October - to join the Zimbabwe Board XI team and replace 3 others chosen for the ODIs against Australia.

The remainder of the team flew from Harare to Johannesburg on Tuesday, 26 October 1999  two days before the Test match was due to start, and then caught another flight south to Bloemfontein on 27 November.

Time spent in South Africa

   8 days

(26 October- 3 November)

Reinforcements

None.   Andy Blignaut suffered a pulled muscle and was unable to play in the Test match.

Fixtures/Results

Time spent in South Africa before the Test: match

 3 days

(26 - 29 October)

Test appearances on tour

1 -   Campbell,  A Flower,  GW Flower,  G J Whittall,  B C Strang,  Olonga,  Rennie,  Goodwin,  Mbangwa, Johnson , Gripper.

0  -  Mutendera,  A J Whittall.

Highlights

•    Guy Whittall top-scored for Zimbabwe in both innings with 85 and 51, the only fifties scored.

•    Henry Olonga (4-93) had the best bowling figures.

Tour Summary

Return to Zimbabwe

Johannesburg   Q   Harare

The team arrived in Harare back from the South African tour on the night of Wednesday 3 November 1999.

The selectors named their side for the second Test match against South Africa  (at Harare) on 5 November.

Time away from Zimbabwe   

8 days  

(26 October to 3 November)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

Postscript

A week later David Ellman-Brown, Chairman of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, announced that skipper Alistair Campbell had tendered his resignation and that Andy Flower would take over as captain in a caretaker capacity until the end of December.

At the end of 1999 Zimbabwe were at the bottom of the Wisden world Test rankings.