Heath Streak talks to John Ward about the recently concluded tour of
Zimbabwe by New Zealand on the eve of his team's departure for the ICC
Knockout Tournament in Kenya.
JW: Heath, what are your overall views on the New Zealand tour, after
a poor start and great improvement by Zimbabwe?
HS: Obviously a disappointing start, but we went in with a slightly
imbalanced side I thought in the First Test, with Guy Whittall
standing down at the last minute. I think it would have made a big
difference if we had had him, but it wasn't to be. The Second Test we
nearly saved after batting pretty dismally in the first innings. But
the guys took a bit of inspiration from Guy's innings, and also a few
of the others like Andy [Flower] chipping in certainly helped the
spirits.
We didn't play well in our first one-day international but I think we
picked it up pretty well over the weekend [in Bulawayo]. We had a
good long chat and addressed the problems we had, and I thought the
guys responded well. Alistair Campbell had a fantastic two innings
and the guys all chipped in: Grant [Flower] on the first day; a cameo
innings by Andy in the last one-day international. It was nice to
show a bit of fighting spirit and come back from behind. It shows the
guys have the ability, and it's what I said all along. Obviously
without Murray [Goodwin] and Neil [Johnson] it is a blow, but there's
no reason why we can't win, and win in the fashion we have this
series.
JW: Who else in the Zimbabwe team put up performances we can be
particularly happy about?
HS: I thought in the Tests we had some pretty decent bowling
performances. Henry [Olonga] I thought was fantastic; Paul [Strang]
was brilliant in the First Test - to come back from injury and bowl as
much as he did, and hopefully he can carry on for us. Alistair again
was in form, and I obviously enjoyed my own innings! Guy's 180 in
Harare was an excellent innings, up there with some of the best
centuries - nearly a double century - you can get in Test cricket.
Although Andy didn't carry through and make a hundred, I thought he
batted fantastically in the series. The other guys were pretty
supportive: Pom [Mbangwa] in the Second Test did a good job and held
up an end, and in the circumstances it was pretty trying.
JW: And the younger players trying to establish themselves in the
side?
HS: Obviously `Syke' Nkala is very promising, a bit sporadic with his
performances but he's been plagued with quite a bad foot injury, and I
think that's played a small part in his bowling performances. But I
think there's a lot of potential coming out of him. Brilliant to find
some new talent in Doug Marillier. I thought his performances were
excellent, and I think Travis Friend is going to be a genuinely quick
bowler for us who will hopefully balance our strike attack in the
future, especially in the Test arena.
JW: Do you know why Doug isn't in the team to Kenya?
HS: The organizers for the tournament required a squad to be
announced prior to this one-day series against New Zealand, so
unfortunately it was selected prior to that, and we can only replace
guys due to injuries.
JW: You can always belt somebody over the head if necessary!
HS: Maybe a kick in the ankle might do it!
JW: What is the injury situation at the moment?
HS: Henry [Olonga] has come back from injury; he's passed a fitness
test with our physio and the selectors, so he's fine. But nothing
major at this stage for the tournament, other than Andy Blignaut, who
unfortunately is still coming back from a back injury. He's been
advised to take it easy into bowling because he's had a stress
fracture. You see the likes of Dion Nash and Dan Vettori, and you've
got to be so careful with those sort of injuries.
JW: Who are the leading New Zealand players you had to look out for?
HS: Obviously Cairns was a big player as an all-rounder. They've got
some good batsmen, and I think Spearman showed it in the one-day
tournament how good a quality player he is, although he didn't play in
the First Test. Horne has been a tough customer who gets stuck in;
McMillan has made hundreds and we knew he was always a danger, but we
felt we always had a chance with him with our spin. Then there are
steady performers with guys like Fleming and their middle-order
batters. Richardson came in and put in a very professional
performance in the Harare Test, so they've got a good batting unit,
and they bat right down to the end, so it's pretty difficult.
Their bowling was steady: Cairns led the attack in Harare, but Shayne
O'Connor I thought bowled superbly. He was very tight and kept the
pressure on. In Bulawayo the spinners Vettori and Wiseman bowled
superbly, and I thought their use of their bowlers was brilliant.
They bowled to a definite plan; they had plans for all our batters and
they stuck to them. I think that was the reason for their success.
JW: Do you feel you managed to neutralize any of their top players
particularly during the tour?
HS: Towards the end of the tour, and in particular the one-day
series, we did work out a few of them and we worked out where to bowl
to them and where their strengths and weaknesses were, especially
against the spin attack. I think we did do a good job, but it took us
a bit of time to cotton on to that, and maybe we can learn a lot
quicker next time round.
JW: Any young New Zealand players you can rate as particular
promising for the future?
HS: That's difficult; they're a pretty settled side and I haven't
seen much of their young players on this tour. They've got Tuffey and
Wiseman who have played a bit; they've a couple of new bowlers like
Styrus. They look good but they're still raw. I think they'll come
through. Styrus looks a pretty sharp bowler, and I think when he gets
his consistency going he'll be a pretty useful customer. He has good
pace variations and I think he'll do well in the one-day game. I
think they've some good youngsters coming through on the batting side,
but I haven't seen much of them; the guys who have put in the
performances are the guys we've played against before. But they
obviously have a good coaching structure and a good tour management;
they're very professional, and have their physio and their biokinetics guy, their coach and manager - a good professional touring
unit and a good standard of first-class cricket in New Zealand, and in
their Academy. So I think they've developed and come on in leaps and
bounds in their country.
JW: How would you compare them in strength and attitude to other
Test-playing countries?
HS: I think they're improved substantially. They're very hard
customers on the field; they fight hard and they definitely have a lot
of spirit and courage out there, which is what you need. Many of them
are very tough mentally, which is what you need to be, especially at
Test level.
JW: What were they like as people, both on and off the field?
HS: They play hard on the field; they're out there definitely to win
and they're quite a vocal side, but off the field we all got on
extremely well with them. They're very friendly and we certainly
don't have any problems with any of them. Off field we've a good
relationship and we socialize quite a bit with them; they're a nice
bunch of guys.
JW: Any real characters in their team you can talk about?
HS: A few of them; I have certainly got on pretty well with Shayne
O'Connor as we have very similar interests in that he's from a farming
background and enjoys his hunting, so I got on well with him, and with
Cairnsy. We've played together in a World Zimbabwe game and so we've
gotten quite friendly. I've also got to know a few of the others
well: Stephen Fleming, Adam Parore and others. They're a good bunch
of guys and I get on well with them.
JW: Are you looking forward to playing New Zealand again particularly
in the ICC Knockout next Monday, or would you have preferred different
opponents?
HS: No, I think coming out of this series where we've won two
matches, we'll have a bit of confidence, and they'll hopefully be a
little bit worried about us. But we'll still have to go out there and
play extremely well. They're a brilliant one-day side and they'll
have a couple of their players back. Chris Harris wasn't fully fit
and they'll have Cairns back in their side, so they'll be a stronger
unit and we're looking forward to the contest. If we can beat them,
there's no reason why we can't progress further in the tournament.
They're definitely up there with the top sides, in the top half of the
one-day international teams.
JW: What's the programme for Zimbabwe after Kenya?
HS: We come back for a few days, then we're off to Sharjah for a
triangular series against India and Sri Lanka. Then we come back for
another week and then we go to India for a Test and one-day series.
This takes us through to Christmas, and off to New Zealand for a Test
and three one-dayers, and then straight from New Zealand to Australia
for the World Series, which takes us through to mid-February. Then I
think there's about a six-week break, then there could be a tour in
April, but in May and June we have India and the West Indies touring
in our winter for a change.