Zimbabwe captain Brian Murphy is back home at present, recovering froma broken bone in his hand
John Ward09-Dec-2001Zimbabwe captain Brian Murphy is back home at present, recovering froma broken bone in his hand. He hopes to be fit in time for the Testseries in Sri Lanka, starting on 27 December. He talks to John Wardabout his experiences at the helm so far.I first heard that I was to captain the side the day before we went toSharjah! I don’t know Heath Streak’s full reasons for resigning, butsince I had been appointed vice-captain for the tour I was asked to becaptain. Dave Houghton came and asked me, and I just took it as anopportunity to do something for the country, and decided to go with itfrom there.It was quite unexpected; the vice-captaincy was unexpected. Butbasically I think the team will do well to change its fortunes, andHeath resigning has given me the opportunity to try to make somethinghappen for them.I thought our preparations for the tour were very good. We had somegood net sessions and worked out a team value structure and our goalsfor the next year and a half, leading up to the World Cup. In theSharjah tournament we were playing against two very good one-day teamsin Sri Lanka and Pakistan. We didn’t play nearly as well as we shouldhave done.When you get put in a captaincy role, it’s a very demanding position,because you have to look at different aspects and you can never stopand relax for a minute. So, all of a sudden, from being a player tobeing a captain is very different. You have to be thinking all thetime and making sure all your team are on your side and workingtogether, and trying to sort out the strategy for the game.The senior players have been very good to me; they have supported me sofar, which is good, and I hope it continues. Geoff Marsh has also beenvery good to me. He’s come from coaching a really great team, theAustralian team, and he’s got the processes and the attitudes that gowith a winning side. So it just means he has to put the structures inplace so we can work through those processes as a team, and that mademy job a lot easier. His being there as a very strong individualhelped me deal with the main issues and he dealt with the small issueswhich he felt I didn’t need at that time. It’s a challenging positionbeing captain and there is also the fact that I had been away fromcricket for three months. He helped a great deal from that aspect.The tournament at Sharjah is very well run and the organizers kept allthe aspects covered. We had good practice facilities and the hotelswere good places to stay in. There was a good relaxed atmosphere atthe tournament, although it was tough cricket; we were playing againstgood players.I had a few television interviews to do. The first one was before wehad played a game, so I tried to keep it as brief as possible. Onceyou’ve got something to talk about, once you have played a game, youcan relate the events of the game and say what happened and why. Ifound that much easier to do than the first interview, because I couldjust relax and speak about the game.The anti-corruption unit was there in full force, because they saySharjah has been a hot spot for match-fixing, so security was reallytight. All the phone calls were screened, and so on. I don’t thinkthe situation in Afghanistan had much effect on that; I think it wasmainly to try and eradicate any match-fixing. That was the mostimportant item on their agenda.I think our bowlers did a reasonable job at this tournament. We didn’thave any really high scores against us except for 279 by Pakistan inthe second game. The targets were reasonable to chase, especially onthat wicket. But the evening session, especially with the lights, madebatting a little bit tricky because the ball was skidding on a bitmore, and it helped the bowlers a lot more then.I thought our batsmen let us down through the tournament because weweren’t able to get the scores we needed. 193 against Sri Lankachasing 256, and then 171 and 232. We just weren’t able to capitalizeon partnerships that were built and we lost quick wickets, and theneverything just fell apart. There were partnerships up front at moststages, but we weren’t able to take it through. One of the in batsmengot out and then everything fell apart.But I thought our bowlers did a reasonable job, although we could haveput a little bit more pressure on them when wickets fell. We alsobowled some loose deliveries that were scored off in the middle of aspell, and we could never really string together overs where they weregoing at three an over or less for a reasonable period. We did it forthreeor four-over spells, but if you get a team under pressure youhave to keep them under pressure, build it up so you get the wickets,especially in the one-day game.Wasim Akram was our most dangerous opponent. In our last game he wasbrilliant. He took three wickets for 19 and changed the course of thegame because Andrew and Grant [Flower] had built a really goodpartnership. Wasim came back for a two-over spell and got rid ofAndrew, and straight after that he got rid of Dion [Ebrahim]. That wasthe turning point. We needed to go at five an over at that stage andwere will within reach of winning that game. He changed the course ofthe game; he was really sharp that day, as he was throughout thetournament. He was the star.I thought Doug Marillier had a good tournament. He continued his formwith the ball from the England series and made some good scores,including a fifty against Sri Lanka. He also bowled well and gotwickets throughout his spell.Sean Ervine had a good series; I think he’s a cricketer for the futureespecially. He’s got that quiet confidence about him. I think he willwork hard to improve on his ability.I thought Heath [Streak] bowled well throughout the tournament. He wasalways good up front, always got wickets early on, and towards thelater part of the game when we needed a breakthrough, he got it for us.Travis Friend had a reasonable tournament. I think he’ll be a goodnew-ball bowler in the future. He’s on his way to sorting out hisgame, which is very good for Zimbabwe. I think he’s going to serve thecountry well in the future.My own bowling did not go very well. I hadn’t played for three monthsand these were my first four games back. I’m working on a few thingsfrom a technical point of view after my time with Terry Jenner, andit’s always challenging to do that while I’m playing a game.I made some runs but the game was over then and I just tried to bat.No substitute for middle practice, though!We had three days off in Sharjah after we finished the fourth game, andthat was really relaxing. We worked hard during that time, but foundtime to relax. We got to see Dubai, which is really a fantastic place.Then we flew to Dhaka, and it was again back in the nets and trainingpretty hard.I thought our build-up to the Test match was reasonable. The practicefacilities weren’t as good as those in Sharjah. There was quite a lotof rain around for two days leading into the first Test match, so thewicket was a bit damp on the surface and the overhead conditions wereconducive to swing bowling, so we were lucky to win the toss and getthem batting.I thought we bowled well; we put the ball in the right place oftenenough and their batsmen had a bit of trouble with the sidewaysmovement and also the extra bounce that Travis Friend got. The threeseamers bowled very well: Henry [Olonga] got three wickets, Travis gotfive and Heath got two.We whipped them out for 107, but at one stage our batting had a minorcollapse up front. We were 89 for five, but the turning point in thegame was the partnership between Doug Marillier and Craig Wishart.Craig was really good, and he continued his form through the tour. Ithink it’s good for him and the team for him to get his momentum goinginto the Sri Lanka series. We need it to play Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka,as they’re a pretty well-organized unit and they have Muralitharan andVaas in their bowling attack.But we couldn’t do anything about the weather at Dhaka, and I think wegot ourselves into a pretty good position to win that Test match.Those last two days it rained all the time.I injured my hand in the nets before the third day’s play, in the nets.Henry Olonga was bowling, and he bowled a short ball and unfortunatelyI didn’t get out of the way and it hit my hand. It was one of thosethings that happen, and it was unfortunate because you don’t wish it onanyone, especially if you’re the one it happens to! That’s the way itis.It was diagnosed that evening after the Test match, and I had to waittwo more days while it rained before I left for home, when the teamleft for Chittagong. I’d like to be ready for the Tests in Sri Lanka.As far as I’m aware this type of injury takes six weeks to heal, but ifI can get back earlier I’d really love to.This is an interesting time for Zimbabwean cricket. It would be goodfor the team to perform as a team, to work together and go forward withset plans and goals in mind, and really work hard to achieve thosegoals. I think there’s enough talent to get enough players performingat a good international standard. We want to be ready for the WorldCup.It’s not unrealistic to say we’ve got a good chance of getting into thefinals and winning the World Cup. It just means we have to put in alot of hard work at the moment to prepare ourselves well for that.Anything is possible in one-day cricket and we proved it at the lastWorld Cup. Once we get into the Super Sixes anyone can win. Australiawon the last World Cup from a position of having to win all their lastseven games to win it.It means we have to be performing as a team and making sure that whenthe pressure is really on we can rely on our team-mates. We take itfrom there.