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The former fast bowler is moving to Zimbabwe to pursue a dream.

‘EXPERIENCE required” is a suffix to many job advertisements. In the expanding field of cricket coaching it even applies, as Jason Gillespie has discovered, to stalwarts with nine years of international playing experience behind them.

It is the reason Gillespie, 36, his wife Anna and their three pre-school-age boys are this weekend relocating from Adelaide to a city of 100,000 in central Zimbabwe for the next seven months – so he can fulfil that ”experience required” clause.

His brief stint in the Indian Cricket League, the ill-fated predecessor of the Indian Premier League, gave him a taste of the lucrative post-Test possibilities as a player and a commentator. Even so, he had an unexplained attraction to coaching.

The suitability of Gillespie for coaching was evident in an August 2009 article he wrote for ESPNcricinfo dissecting Australia’s Ashes loss to England. One of his observations, that paceman Ben Hilfenhaus ”can be so accurate and consistent that he can be a bit predictable”, was emphatically proved in last summer’s Ashes. He also called for Cricket Australia to make chairman of selectors a full-time role, which has two years later become one of the key recommendations of the Argus report.

The initial barrier to Gillespie securing coaching roles was his ICL involvement, as the powerful Indian cricket board successfully persuaded other nations to ban anyone who had been involved in the rebel Twenty20 competition. ”After you’ve played cricket for your country for a decade,” Gillespie lamented, ”to be seen as an outcast was a pretty bitter pill to swallow.”

Once that barrier was cleared and Gillespie’s job applications could officially be considered came his realisation that, ”like anyone else who goes for a job in any walk of life”, experience was essential. The coaching courses he had undertaken were not a substitute for it.

The solution came last year in the form of a conversation with former Zimbabwe fast bowler Heath Streak, now back in the national fold as its bowling coach, that morphed into a job offer: leading the Kwekwe-based MidWest Rhinos. As Zimbabwe was still a year away from ending its six-year Test absence, the first-class structure there could hardly have been in rude health, a reality that ensured Gillespie’s skills would be tested immediately.

One thing he learnt very quickly was to ignore the regimented coaching principles and ”coach-speak” he had been instructed to use.

”I coach with a bit of a gut feel,” he said. ”I like talking to my players just as people and not specifically a coach-to-player relationship. There are times when you need to be firm and lay down the law, but by and large we’re all in the business of trying to improve.

”We’re all going in the same direction. I suppose I’m just learning to trust my instinct a little bit more rather than try and be seen to be doing the right things by the coaching manual.”

As a player, Gillespie had been accustomed to exerting himself mentally and physically while out on the ground, and then resting up on both counts as soon he reached the dressing room. The necessity for him to now be across all disciplines – batting, bowling and fielding, and not just for his players – rather than just worry about skittling batsmen – has forced an end to that approach.

”Now I’m pretty much watching every ball that’s bowled. It’s a bit more tiring than I thought it would be, to be honest,” he said.

”It’s still important as a coach to have that player’s perspective, because at the end of the day they’re the guys out there doing the job. I look at it and try to find ways how I can prepare these guys the best I can, for them to be the best they can be.”

For Gillespie to accept the initial Rhinos deal required a significant sacrifice from his wife, as their youngest son was only nine weeks old when they left for Zimbabwe.

”When I said that I wanted to give coaching a go, I’m not sure what she [Anna] really thought of it, but she supported me 100 per cent,” Gillespie said.

”I’ll never forget, pretty early in the piece in Zimbabwe [last year], I came home from a day’s play and we were sitting on the couch chatting. Anna saw I had this big grin on my face and said, ‘You love what you’re doing, don’t you’? and I said, ‘Yeah, I really do’.

”That’s when it hit home for me, that I was doing something I really love doing. It reinforced my decision to bite the bullet and do some coaching in Zimbabwe.”

The Rhinos coaching experience has already started to open doors for Gillespie. He became bowling coach for IPL team Kings XI Punjab, under former teammate Michael Bevan, and will reprise that role next season.

But instead of solely using that IPL experience as a springboard for other high-profile jobs, Gillespie’s unshakeable gratitude to Zimbabwe Cricket and the Rhinos for ”taking a punt” on him persuaded him to again uproot his family and continue his tuition of young Zimbabweans.

Gaining more experience anywhere can only be beneficial at this stage of Gillespie’s career, while his willingness to return to Zimbabwe with his family is a strong endorsement of his commitment to it.

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The Pakistan cricket team, who arrived in the country on friday, will get their first feel of local conditions when they take on Zimbabwe XI in a two-day warm-up match starting at Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) on Sunday.

The Pakistan squad under the captainship of 37-year-old middle order batsman Misbah Ulhaq arrived in Bulawayo around midday on Friday via South Africa for one Test match, three One-Day International (ODI) matches and two Twenty20 matches between September 1-18.

The tourists’ immediate focus will be on the two-day practice match where they are expected to field their strongest side so their players quickly acclimatise to the local conditions before the Test match.

Zimbabwe, on the other hand, are likely to keep their cards very close to their chest by resting most of their senior players like they did against Bangladesh.

The element of surprise worked very well in the previous series against Bangladesh, where seamers Brian Vitori and Kyle Jarvis used their lack of exposure at the highest level to their advantage.

The selectors are likely to rest their frontline bowlers, with the inform Vitori, who has recovered from a sheen injury, Chris Mpofu and Kyle Jarvis all set to be rested for the practice match.

This leaves the likes of seamers Njabulo Ncube and Tendai Chatara and spinner Prosper Utseya and Natsai Mushangwe with a high chance of getting some game time in the practice match.

The same trend is also likely to be used in the batting department where skipper Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza, Elton Chigumbura, Vusi Sibanda all look set to be rested.

In-form Vusi Sibanda and Tino Mawoyo look most likely to be entrusted with opening the batting with the latter hoping for a big score which might just set the tone for the series.

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In the three games he has played, leading up to the Test match, he has found the going pretty tough with some wayward bowling that also lacked any form of penetration.

It’s hard to understand what Njabulo Ncube has to do before he gets the recognition from the selectors that he so richly deserves.

Yes, it is true that he was injured in the first four-day match against Australia A, and missed the second four-day day match as well.

However, he gave good accounts of himself in Kwekwe on a flat and unresponsive pitch and bowled with both aggression and control in the recently concluded three-day warm-up match against Bangladesh where he claimed five wickets in the match.

Yet, for all that, he still finds himself watching from the sidelines.

Another inclusion that will leave cricket followers scratching their heads in confusion is that of Keegan Meth who relies purely on the overhead conditions and whatever assistance the pitch has to offer due to his lack of pace and penetration.

So will Zimbabwe play four seamers and one spinner?

Or will they open the bowling with Chris Mpofu and Brian Vitori and play both Raymond Price and Prosper Utseya and use Elton Chigumbura as a third seamer?

Forster Mutizwa will also feel that he has a foot in the door for selection as his match-winning innings of 89 showed a mixture of maturity and class which has left many people wondering if Hamilton Masakadza should maybe pushed to open the batting with Vusi Sibanda to allow Mutizwa to perhaps slot in at number seven after Chigumbura, which would strengthin the middle and lower order.

Tinotenda Mawoyo will be hoping that the bad run of injuries that have plagued him will be something of the past as both he and Vusi Sibanda had solid opening starts against Australia A.

It was also encouraging to see that the pitch the warm-up game was played on had a bit of pace and bounce as well as movement for the fast bowlers and even though the batsmen found the going difficult in the first innings.

It was clear to see that Bangladesh were found wanting as a combination of very little first class cricket and some persistent and impressive seam bowling eventually got the better of the tourists as they were beaten by four wickets leading up to the Test match.

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Wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu has hit out at the way Zimbabwe cricket is run on the eve of their return to Test ranks against Bangladesh in Harare.

Zimbabwe return from their self-imposed six-year exile in a one-off match after convincing the powers that be of their ability to again function as a full-member Test-playing nation.

Taibu said: “I don’t think much has changed really, the administration is still struggling to run cricket in the country well.”

He added: “For example, the guys haven’t been paid their match fees from August last year up to now.

“At the moment, I am sitting here without a contract, no one has got a contract; those are all things that the administration is struggling to deal with.

“When you walk around and you see a house that’s painted well, you will think that house is really standing strong but if does not have a strong foundation, it will fall down one day or another.

“Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has just painted a house that’s about to fall.”

While Taibu’s comments are worrying he is enthused about the ability of the current team, which will be led by Brendan Taylor for the first time, to overcome any perceived problems and test a Bangladesh side that will play its first five-day game in 14 months.

“To see the guys running in and bowling and hitting a lot of balls in the nets it really shows that the guys have got the country at heart,” he said.

“We are on the verge of a Test match and no one has got a contract, no one knows what we will get paid, but the guys love their country and they can’t see cricket drop like that.”

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BY ALBERT MARUFU

ZIMBABWE cricket is not pregnant with history makers and when one is born, the nation has every reason to celebrate.
Following wicket keeper batsman Tatenda Taibu’s outburst on the eve of the country’s return to the Test arena that showed all was not well, few would have hoped for anything positive to come from the series against Bangladesh.

However, coach Alan Butcher had a surprise for the Tigers.

In the deep end, he threw little known “muvhitori” Brian Vitori.

Before him, Hamilton Masakadza had excelled with the bat on his debut.

The debutant Masvingo-born Vitori did not disappoint as he ripped through the Bangladesh batting line-up with his five wickets for 30 runs, putting him in the privileged class of only seven bowlers in the world and the first locally to have notched five wickets on debut.

That feat saw Vitori, who was born to Vensen and Tendai Vitori on February 22 1990, joining South African legend Allan Donald (five wickets for 29 runs against India in 1991), Australia’s Tony Dodemaide’s five for 21 against Sri Lanka in 1988), Canada’s Austin Codrington’s five wickets for 27 against Bangladesh in 2003) and West Indies’ Fidel Edwards’s six for 22 runs against Zimbabwe in 2003 in taking five wickets on debut.

Many a local bowler had tried to achieve that feat on their debuts with Gary Crocker (four wickets for 26 runs in Zimbabwe’s 30 run loss to India in 1992), Everton Matambanadzo (four wickets for 32 runs), Bryan Strang (four wickets for 36 runs against Pakistan in 1995) and Duncan Fletcher (four wickets for 42 runs in Zimbabwe’s shock 13 run victory over Australia in 1983 World Cup) falling one wicket shot of the record.

Despite having made such a phenomenal presence in which, he took 10 wickets on his first two matches, that have since earned him a central contract, Vitori remains modest.

“I just went into the match to play the game and help my country win the game. I have played in four games and have won all of them,” he said.
The 21-year-old Southern Rocks player, who is the first Zimbabwean left arm seamer since the retired Brian Strang got into the limelight last year in a Pro40 semifinal against Tuskers in which his five wickets for 26 runs helped his side to progress to the final, in which they finally won.
He was then picked in the Zimbabwe XI squad that played Australia and South Africa, where he took five wickets against Australia, albeit in a losing cause in the first four-day match.

He was there again for Zimbabwe against Bangladesh where he made his debut appearance in the longer version of the game with 5/122.
Vitori started playing cricket while in grade four at ZRP Zimuto Primary School.

“I enjoyed playing volleyball, but had to play cricket because my brother Saul, who was a cricket enthusiast, wanted a partner. It was only while I was in Grade four that I took the sport seriously with the coaches, Mufaro Chiturumani and Josh Paul urging me on. I continued to play the sport up to Victoria High School, also in Masvingo, before moving to Milton High School in Bulawayo for A-Levels,” he said.

Vitori, who was part of the Zimbabwe Under-19 team that toured Namibia in 2008, always feels grateful for representing his province.
“I know they always look up to me and say ‘he is one of us’,” he said.

Vitori then joined his home side Rocks in 2009, where he played in the B team of the franchise.

“I was only promoted to the A team last year and played the last eight games of the season and the semi-final and final of the Met Bank Pro40. I was then selected for the 32-man squad that was preparing for the return to Test cricket and subsequently the final 16,” he said.

His bowling coach Heath Streak is equally ecstatic about the young man’s bowling prowess.

“It might be early days yet, but it was a good start for him. I put him in the same stead as Wassim Akram who made a huge impact on his debut. Let’s wait and see as the opposition gets stronger,” he said.

His father Vensen could only say: “I was supposed to have come and watch him play, but there was a funeral in the family. I am happy for him,” he said.
Vensen, not a big cricket fan, has started following the game because of his son.

Zimbabwe plays Bangladesh in the last ODI.

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Zimbabwe Cricket have expressed their concern over Tatenda Taibu’s comments regarding the country’s readiness to return to Test cricket – but the wicketkeeper will face no sanctions.

Taibu likened the country’s cricketing structure to a house lacking strong foundations and “about to fall”, and alleged that players’ match fees were still owed from last August.

A statement signed by ZC’s managing director, Ozias Bvute, and chairman of selectors, Alastair Campbell, described his comments as “harmful” and their timing as “cynical”, but they attempted to play down their impact ahead of their return to the five-day arena against Bangladesh.

“Zimbabwe Cricket would like to express its concern and regret over the comments made by former captain Tatenda Taibu in an article on Cricinfo on Tuesday,” they wrote.

“So many people have worked tirelessly and selflessly to rebuild cricket in this country throughout an extremely difficult economic period and for Tatenda to claim that their collective efforts have been worthless – and that nothing has changed – is dispiriting in the extreme.

“We would like to address every one of Tatenda’s grievances as soon as the Test match is over – and those of any team member. We have already started the process of improving our mechanisms for communication whereby the players will be able to speak to the administrators and express their concerns in a clear and forthright manner, and without fear of repercussion or reprisal.

“We are happy to involve a third party as a players’ representative and, indeed, an independent mediator. We would like Tatenda to participate in this process. And while the ICC’s chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, is here to witness our return to Test cricket, we will be extending an invitation for him to talk to our players.”

The statement continued: “The timing of Tatenda’s comments are unfortunate, if not a little cynical. In any other country a senior player could expect significant sanction from his board for such a public outburst. But we see little point in doing that and wish him the very best in the Test match. He is one of our finest cricketers.

“Neither Tatenda nor any of the other national players have ever not been paid their monthly salary. Match fees, paid over and above salaries, have been deferred from time to time while cash-flow improves with our return to international cricket. Tatenda is in an extremely privileged position and his monthly salary places him in the top one percent of the population.

“There are many thousands of people less well off than Tatenda who could be seriously harmed by his comments.

“Cricket in Zimbabwe is not “dying.” We are still building, but every aspect of the game, from the numbers of professional players to the interest from sponsors, shows a graph on the way up. And we are all committed to further growth and success.”

Taibu had earlier claimed: “I don’t think much has changed really, the administration is still struggling to run cricket in the country well.

“For example, the guys haven’t been paid their match fees from August last year up to now.

“At the moment, I am sitting here without a contract, no one has got a contract; those are all things that the administration is struggling to deal with.

“When you walk around and you see a house that’s painted well, you will think that house is really standing strong but if does not have a strong foundation, it will fall down one day or another.

“Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has just painted a house that’s about to fall.”

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It was a historic feat for the Zimbabweans who took a 3-0 lead in the five game series to win their first ODI series against a Test playing nation in five years.

The win put the icing on the Zimbabwe Cricket cake having recently won their one-off Test that marked their return to the longer version of the game after six years.

Zimbabwe have been in top form in the series winning all encounters from the warm up games, Test match and the three ODIs they have played so far.

But Tuesday’s game was pretty much different as Zimbabwe were sent into bat first having won the toss in the previous two games they chose to chase.

However, they proved equally a good side chasing after Bangladesh put up a much-improved performance compared to the first two ODIs they had played.

Having been put to bat first, Zimbabwe reached 250 for the loss of seven wickets but Bangladesh were 245 all out in reply, failing to get the much needed win as they required eight runs from the final over.

Butcher was impressed with the way his players absorbed the pressure to pull a win with four balls to spare, saying it was a major boost for his side.

“It is pretty significant for everybody. From the players’ point of view, they’ve had a tough time, getting better and to win a series, it helps boost your confidence.

“We won a Test and three ODIs but there are areas of improvement.

“We knew that from the first two games that Bangladesh were capable of playing better than they did. And they showed it. We’d really love to have a 5-0 win,” said Butcher.

Former captain and wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu top scored with 83 and it was his third wicket partnership with Hamilton Masakadza (74) that gave life to Zimbabwe.

At the same time Taibu was celebrating his 20th ODI half-century while Masakadza marked his 17th half-century in the one day version of the game.

Spinner Prosper Utseya was the pick of the Zimbabwe bowlers as he grabbed three wickets for 47 while Elton Chigumbura’s 31 with the bat added weight for Zimbabwe.

But it was towards the end of the game that seamers Kyle Jarvis and Christopher Mpofu rose to the occasion and nailed Bangladesh in the final two overs of the game.

Brian Vitori gave problems to the Bangladesh defence while Jarvis picked up two wickets in the penultimate over claiming the scalps of Islam and Robiul Hossain and Mpofu was responsible for Mushfiqur Rahim (101) in the last over.

“A year ago we never heard of Brian Vitori well that is not true. But he was coming through the franchise.

“Kyle was struggling with a back injury and he has come back to put a good performance, we were not sure when he was going to come back.

“Those two have really come forward.”

Captain Brendan Taylor believes his bowling attack worked hard for the victory.

“I thought we had done about enough, the ball doesn’t do much in the afternoon, but we had the bowlers, the guys kept their heads together and pulled it off.

“I just thought I would keep changing my bowlers around.

“With no Price to contain the bowlers, Jarvis showed a mature head,” said Taylor.

But Mushfiqur presented Zimbabwe with a golden opportunity to win the game when he took a hurried shot that was caught by Vusimuzi Sibanda at the boundary.

However, Bangladesh coach Stuart Law feels it would not be fair to put the blame on Mushfiqur as he failed to get the support from the mid order and the tail enders.

“You can’t blame him. He’s played one of the best innings of his career. It’s just a shame that a guy who plays an innings like that ends up in the losing team. He’s absolutely distraught in the dressing room.

“If some of the batsmen who got out before him did things differently, it would’ve been a different story,” said Law.

Law feels that his side made too many mistakes and were punished for their poor fielding.

“I still can’t get out of the head the four catches we dropped today, that probably cost us,” he said.

On his way to his maiden century Mushfiqur partnered Tamim Iqbal (44), Shakib Al Hasan (19), debutant Shuvagoto Hom (22) and Mahmudullah (14)

Bangladesh collapsed easily from 229 for 6, to 245 all out.

Law said Zimbabwe’s performance in this series was as a result of the fact that the hosts prepared well for the games while his side had problems with the monsoon rains back in Bangladesh.

“Zimbabwe have had fantastic preparation, they played tough cricket against Australia A and South Africa A, leading into the series.

“Our preparation probably wasn’t ideal with monsoon at home.

“We played games against our Academy, probably not the sternest test before we come here and play a team that has played tough cricket,” Law said.

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Zimbabwe cricket fans in Bulawayo turned out to watch international cricket for the first time in a long time, but their team did not turn up to play cricket after they surrendered to a six-wicket defeat to touring Bangladesh in the fourth of the UCB five one-day-international series at Queens Sports Club yesterday.

Having had heard so much about Brian Vitori and possibly watched him on TV, the fans, who really love their cricket and know just how to support that game in this part of the country, came to watch him live in action, but they did not see him as he was rested; neither did they see the team’s good performance that had echoed so much from Harare in this series.

Zimbabwe lead the series 3-1 and the last game is on tomorrow.

Having lost the toss in clear sky conditions on a cool day, Zimbabwe were dismissed for 199 runs in 48.2 overs. With wickets falling around him, captain Brendan Taylor (106), the little diamond among the rubble, came out to play with a performance he desperately needed after failing to score 10 runs in each of the first three ODIs of this series.

The tourists then reached the required target in 36.4 overs with captain Shakib Al Hassan and Shuvagoto Hom guiding their team home with 39 and 35 respectively.

Before that, Elton Chigumbura, who is usually intent on innings full of fire, had an opportunity to accumulate sensibly and polish a good innings score coming in with four wickets (Vusa Sibanda 18, Hamilton Masakadza 0, Tatenda Taibu 7, Foster Mutizwa 9) down with 28.2 overs to be bowled and with Zimbabwe on 89-4 after Mutizwa had just feathered a Shakib Al Hasan delivery into Mushfiqur Rahim’s gloves.

Chigumbura did that and just when he had acquired the licence to thrill, he perished attempting to hit one into the crowd in the first over of the last power play at 43.3 overs for 31 in 65 balls, caught Nasir Hossain off Rubel Hossain. Taylor and Chigumbura had put in a 94-run stand.

Taylor was to follow in rather the same fashion as Zimbabwe attempted to put up a defendable total when he was caught by Mohammad Mahmudullah off Hossain after reaching his fourth ODI century which featured seven fours and a six, to leave Zimbabwe at 184-6.

The last five wickets fell for just 16 runs for Zimbabwe with the tail giving in way too easily to the bowling of Bangladesh’s Hossain who retained figures of 4-6 in his second five-over bowling spell.

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VOA’s Sonny Young, of Sonny Side of Sports, give highlights of the weekend sports.