Tour of  India 2000-01            Captain:  Heath Streak

Zimbabwe’s twelfthTest tour

Second Test-playing tour of India by Zimbabwe

   (November

            - December 2000)

India had just come from conceding 400 against Bangladesh, but the Indian bowlers had then dismissed the Test newcomers for 91 and so they were expected to beat Zimbabwe. It was their first Test series under new coach John Wright.

Although Zimbabwe lost the series, the batsmen showed they had made good progress in international cricket, particularly Andy Flower, whose innings were 183 not out, 70, 55 and 232 not out.  He batted for a total of 1331 minutes (23 hours).  On the other hand the bowling was frequently innocuous and the Indian batsmen also scored heavily.

Grant Flower came under scrutiny for his bowling actiion after Test match referee Barry Jarman observed that not all of his deliveries were legal. 

Note:  The tours of India and of New Zealand in 2000-01 ran consecutively and are really a single tour but, to allow greater detail, are described here as two separate tours.

Other Zimbabwe tours

Previous tour

England 2000

Next tour

New Zealand 2000-01

Next tour of India

2001-02.

Members of the Test tour party (15)

Opening batsmen Grant Flower, Gavin Rennie

Middle-order batsmen:  Alistair Campbell, Guy Whittall, Stuart Carlisle, Douglas Marillier.

Wicket-keeper:  Andy Flower, Trevor Madondo

Spin bowlers:  Paul Strang, Brian Murphy.

Fast bowlers:  Heath Streak, Mluleki Nkala, Henry Olonga, Bryan Strang, Travis Friend.

District representation  

 Logan Cup teams

CFX -  Academy (0)

Man -  Manicaland (1)

Msh - Mashonaland  (7)

Msh A - Mashonaland A (2)

Mat - Matabeleland (3)

Mid - Midlands (2)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(18 November 2000) :

 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

WK  Wicket-keeper

ODI   Member of squad for the ODIs

Test Appearances made before the tour

Campbell 45,  A Flower 45,  G Flower 44,  G Whittall 34,  Streak 33,  B Strang 22,  P Strang 22,  Olonga 19,  Rennie 16,  Carlisle 11,  Murphy 4,  Nkala 3,  Madondo 2,  Viljoen 1,  Friend 0,  Marillier 0.

Tour Officials

Mohammad ‘Babu’ Meman took over from Ali Shah as manager after the Champions Trophy in Sharjah.

Selectors

Iain Butchart (convenor),  Maqbul Dudhia,  David Lake,  Ali Shah,  Denis Streak

                                                                                        (committee appointed 3 August 2000)

Selection

Unavailable:    All-rounder Neil Johnson cut his ties with Zimbabwe and linked up with Western Province for the 2000/01 season;  Peter Chingoka said that Johnson had not chosen to leave Zimbabwe but instead he was fired from his ZCU contract for internal reasons.

Murray Goodwin returned to Australia to live in Perth ;  Andy Whitall also left the game.

Tour Party Announced : 31 October 2000.

Heath Streak was announced as captain on the same day.

Not selected :  Craig Evans,  Mark Vermeulen,  Craig Wishart and  Pommie Mbangwa.

Time between announcement of selection and departure from Zimbabwe:

   4 days

(31 October  -  4 November 2000)

Travel

Harare  Q  London  Q Mumbai

The team assembled in Harare on Friday; departure from the airport was on Saturday 4 November 2000.

After an 11-hour flight to London, there was a three-hour delay before another 11-hour flight to India.  The Zimbabwe team arrived in Mumbai on Monday 6 November without their captain Heath Streak - and their baggage. The baggage was held up at Heathrow Airport , while Streak had to stay back in London to get a tooth extracted.

After a few hours rest, the team proceeded to Indore.  Coach Carl Rackemann had already landed in the country and joined the side at Indore directly. Steak joined the team there on 9 November.

Brian Murphy joined the team later as he had to complete his final year exams in Harare.

Time spent in India

   39 days

(6 November - 15 December)

On-tour selection panel

Carl Rackemann (coach),  Heath Streak  (captain),  Guy Whittall (vice-captain).

Reinforcements

Dirk Viljoen,  who joined the team on 23 November 2000, replaced Paul Strang. Strang flew home on Sat 25 November to Zimbabwe with a muscle injury in his bowling hand.  He was selected only for the Test team in India, but in the final innings of the First Test he felt his arm injury flaring up again. He returned home and was sent to Cape Town for treatment.

Fixtures/Results

§  ODI  Series

† not first-class

.

Time spent in India before First Test:      12 days

(6 November  -   18 November)

Test appearances on tour

2  -   Campbell,  Carlisle,  A Flower,  GW Flower,  Murphy,  Olonga,  Rennie,  Streak,  G Whittall.

1  -   Nkala,  B Strang,  P Strang,  Viljoen.

0  -   Friend,  Madondo,  Marillier.

Match appearances

Highlights

•     At New Delhi, Andy Flower (183*) played in a last wicket partnership of 97 runs with Henry Olonga (who scored 11).  In the second innings he again top-scored with 70.

•   At Nagpur Grant Flower top-scored in the first innings with an unbeaten 106

•   When Zimbabwe followed on 227 runs behind, Flower added 209 runs for the fourth wicket with Campbell (102).

•    Zimbabwe reached 503 for 6, which earned a draw, Andy Flower ending with 232 not out. His series’ aggregate of 540 runs in two Tests gave him an average of 270.00.

Tour Summary

Return to Zimbabwe

Mumbai   Q  x   Q Christchurch

Andy Flower was given leave to return home for 3 days as his wife was having their second child.

At the end of the Indian tour, Zimbabwe left for New Zealand on 15 December, taking forty hours of flying to get there.

Time away from Zimbabwe

    94 days  

(4 November to  6 February 2001)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

Postscript