Heath Streak got a ready reckoner for a dozen English words/sentences in Hindi from an air hostess during the flight from Nagpur to Ahmedabad on Wednesday. “He asked me the Hindi words for yes, sorry, thank you, how are you and so on. I requested the air hostess and she did the translation work in a jiffy,’’ said Prakash Kelkar, liaison officer of the Zimbabwe team.
Streak is the bowling coach of the Zimbabwe team and, according to Kelkar, he’s been trying to learn Hindi from the time he signed up for Ahmedabad Rockets in the ICL. “I would like the people of Ahmedabad to cheer us against Australia,’’ said Streak after Zimbabwe’s training session here at Motera on Thursday.
While Streak may have picked up a few Hindi words over a period of time, he found a way to deal with rival batsmen during the World Cup; almost a year ago in the five-match series against the West Indies. He and the team’s think-tank put its spinners into action, even with the new ball.
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In March 2010 Zimbabwe beat the West Indies in the first match by a mere two runs at the Providence Stadium, Guyana with skipper Elton Chigumbura deploying off-spinners Prosper Utseya and Greg Lamb, left-arm spinner Raymond Price, leg-spinner Graeme Cremer and the part-timers for 42 overs. In other matches they sent down 41.5 overs, 41 and 31.3 and 23.1 in two short games.
Excerpts from a media interaction with Streak:
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It (Rainsford’s absence) affects the depth of the team. He’s a fringe player; but nonetheless a loss to the squad and hence we will be slightly weakened. It’s all part and parcel of the game. It’s an opportunity for someone else to step up. Spin is our strength. Two frontline seamers are in line to play. It’s a disappointment for him (Rainsford) and for us. Teams have to deal with injuries.
Playing Australia in the first match?
We play to win every match. We respect Australia. They are a tough side. They won’t be the underdog by a long way. It’s an opportunity for the Zimbabwe players to showcase their talent and raise their game. As Zimbabweans we have always aspired to bat and bowl well against the Australians. It’s a dream come true for some of the guys in our team to play against some fine players in the present Australian team. So they will be going into the match probably to cause an upset; if not show that we are not a push over, but a competitive side aiming to win. Also show pride in playing for the country. Every game in the World Cup is a huge game for us. We don’t want to disappoint our fans in Zimbabwe, our families and ourselves.
His first impressions of the World Cup in India?
Nagpur had fantastic facilities and the organisation has been great. We were fortunate to be in Dubai for a full week at the ICC Global Academy. We played two matches at the Dubai stadium. There have been a couple of hiccups in the warm-up games, but the guys are ready to go. When the real thing starts the guys will be up for it.
His role with the team dominated by spinners?
Fortunately both our spinners, Utseya and Price, are very experienced now, having played around 100 international games. For me it’s all about creating an environment and giving them more support; not necessarily on the technical side, but more on the preparation and game-plans. I have learnt a bit working with Terry Jenner. My forte is on the seam bowling side and that’s going to play an important role for us.
Temptation to bowl 35-plus overs of spin in all the matches?
Definitely our team would be. It’s not a secret with us. Our strength is spin. We will probably mix it a bit. Primarily spin is our forte and we don’t want to go away from it. The case with the Aussies is different; they have good and genuine quicks. Even in India Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait won’t be comfortable to face.
Is batting a worry?
We have had some good games in the recent past. Even if India and Sri Lanka were not full strength sides, we had good games against them. We scored some big runs in South Africa. We have not batted to our full capabilities in a couple of games, but I think the wickets here will be a little more forgiving and in favour of the batsmen. Our senior players have to put their hands up. Brendon Taylor and Tatenda Taibu have to come to the party and be the consistent performers.
Vivian Richards and Allan Border have said that a team requires big scores from two batsmen to win a match?
Yes, they have to be in-form batsmen. Fortunately for us Taylor has been in good touch and hopefully he can continue with that in the World Cup. Taibu is a consistent performer. Elton Chigumbura got a good hundred in the warm-up game, which is a welcome return to form. He’s someone who can seriously destroy a bowling attack. The Australians saw that in the Twenty20 warm-up game in the Caribbean. We beat them. Chigumbura got 70-odd in that match with clean striking of the ball. We have some serious cricketers, what we need is consistency.