Zimbabwe Cricket Online - editorial

First of all, we need to apologise to our readers for missing an issue last week.

With two weeks since our last issue, we have been able to produce some extra articles, some of which have been inspired by some of our readers. A mention of Don Campbell led us to interview this wicket-keeping brother of former captain Alistair, as did an inquiry about Gus Mackay. We also include biographies of Neil Ferreira and Dion Ebrahim, two of last year's academy players who are making good in league cricket and hoping for greater achievements in the future.

We are embarrassed at our inability to include in this issue anything on the national side's performances in the triangular tournament in South Africa. As we were unable to have a correspondent down there with the team, we did plan, as we had no alternative, to employ a journalist with television access to the matches to watch the games and give us an assessment of the play from a Zimbabwean point of view. We applied for funds to pay him for his work - only to receive a negative reply. It was therefore not possible to do this, and we therefore have no coverage of the team in South Africa, a most unsatisfactory situation. Until our situation changes, we will have to rely on those few correspondents who are prepared to work for us without pay, most notable Peter Whalley and Clive Ruffell. In the meantime, readers wanting to find out about this tournament will have to look elsewhere in CricInfo.

The national team does seem back to normal, from what we can gather - normal being the remarkable ability to pull off a brilliant upset victory now and then, with the odd humiliating defeat in between! At the time of writing we have won and lost one match to both England and South Africa, and another good victory will probably see us through to the finals. Based on past experience, though, the team may not have the confidence to win again. It will be a major step forward if we are able to succeed in this with the pressure on.

The victory over South Africa was a triumph by some of our players over pressure. Those at home able to follow the team, either through CricInfo or on satellite television, were thrilled to see Zimbabwe break through the South African top order, but then came the feeling that they had thrown it away when Klusener gave two difficult chances which were missed and South Africa topped 200, surely too high a target for Zimbabwe to reach. The highest target previously chased successfully by Zimbabwe against a Test-playing nation was 212, against Pakistan away last season.

When Zimbabwe's first five wickets fell for little more than 100, it seemed as if it was the old story all over again. The odds were against us now, but I knew that as long as Andy Flower remained there was hope, as long as he could find someone to stay with him. This Guy Whittall did, in an invaluable partnership. In the end the cool nerve of Heath Streak saw Zimbabwe home off the last possible ball. Hopefully this will improve the team's confidence, always the most critical factor in its performance, and always very vulnerable.