da bet sport： John Ward talks to Guy Whittall about the second day of the Testmatch against New Zealand at Harare Sports Club, after Zimbabwereplied to New Zealand’s 465 all out with 31 for one
John Ward20-Sep-2000JW (John Ward): So, Guy, it was obviously a long day in thefield.GW (Guy Whittall): Yes, obviously; I thought the guys bowled alot better today, though. Streaky had a fantastic opening spell andwas unlucky not to get a wicket. McMillan played him very well today,even though he only scored 15 he saw off the new ball and batted forthe first two-hour session. Cairns was getting busy the other side,but old McMillan I thought batted extremely well, seeing off the newball and setting it up, because this pitch flattens out. In theafternoon it’s not nearly the same, but in the morning it does a bit.There was no turn in there for the spinners. Paul Strang and GrantFlower just got it on the spot and tried to contain them.I don’t think we could have done any more to contain them; HenryOlonga and Pom Mbangwa were quite tired. Pommie also came back with avery good spell. Henry bowled very quickly today and yesterday, andit’s encouraging to see that he’s back at full pace. It was a realtest of character for everyone out there, trying to keep everyonegoing, and I think we stuck to our guns quite well, considering wewere out there for two days and that’s quite a good pitch to bat on.If we can try to bat like the Kiwis, with a lot of discipline, no rashshots, playing down the V. They just let us make the mistakes; everytime we tried to take wickets, they just got the bad ball away. Butit was encouraging to see from our bowlers that they handled it quitewell.Unfortunately `Syke’ Nkala didn’t bowl too well, but you can’t put toomuch pressure on the guy; he’s only 19 and he’s the future all-rounderfor the country, and he’ had a few injury problems, a lot of blisterson his feet, I think, and he’s holding back a bit for fear of it.He’ll come through it; he’s got a good future.JW: And throughout the innings as a whole, which of the NewZealand batsmen impressed you the most?GW: Well, I thought Richardson set it up very well for themyesterday. He’s got a lot of composure, his technique is quite soundand he just had his game together and had a good mind-set. NathanAstle has always got runs against us, does well against us, but it wasa relief that he didn’t go on to his hundred. He was looking quitegood. Chris Cairns I thought played it in a positive way as he had agame plan; he’s played on this pitch before and he was quick on theshort balls; he did try and go over the top, he didn ‘t want to becaught on the crease.JW: A bit of a worrying last session for our batsman.GW: Well, Grant Flower had a long day in the field, and it’salways going to be quite hard for a batsman when you’ve been two daysin the field to come out and bat in that last hour, and I thought theydid very well. So that was encouraging.It was quite a boring day of cricket, where both teams were trying tooutdo the other in patience! But they’ve got a good first innings andthey’ ll want to capitalise on it.