ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

country’s resumption of Test cricket. At one level, the exercise was successful in that they went unbeaten, their one defeat on paper being self-inflicted as Zimbabwe Cricket gave Scotland a walkover, after the latter refused to send a team to Harare. Two matches were drawn, against Afghanistan and Ireland, respectively, which meant that Zimbabwe’s second team failed to beat arguably the two strongest Associate/Affiliate sides but proved superior to the other countries in the competition. Altogether 28 players were used in the five matches played with 14 appearing only once. Although nine centuries were scored, the batting could be considered inconsistent. The outstanding player was Tatenda Taibu who made two centuries in his one match but, as a recognised Test player of considerable ability, it was not clear why he was chosen at all. It was, however, for the match against Afghanistan and so, perhaps, reflected the respect that Zimbabwe had for the opposition. Certainly Taibu’s performance was vital in ensuring that Zimbabwe drew the match rather than being defeated. In the other games, the batting was, overall, unimpressive and relied heavily on the efforts on an individual century-maker, usually a different person in each match, to ensure a competitive total. Craig Ervine was the most promising of the batsmen; otherwise little new was learnt, the results confirming that there is talent but too many poor shots played to be of potential test-match quality. Nevertheless, many players obtained strike rates above 60 which helped to ensure that high totals were made quickly, giving the bowlers both time and runs to work with. Unfortunately the bowling was not penetrative. Most of the leading bowlers were economical but only Timycen Maruma had a strike rate below 40. Given that six of the players used had previous Test experience and that many more had international one-day experience and had toured with Zimbabwe to several countries overseas, virtually none of the cricketers selected enhanced their prospects. Most performed either as expected or were disappointments. Excluding Taibu, who was clearly in a class above the rest, the only exception was the wicketkeeper, Regis Chakabva, who combined some competent performances behind the stumps with three important half-centuries, batting in the lower order. 281 Countries