Six weeks ago, Manicaland all-rounder Gary Brent was out in the cold as far as international cricket was concerned, forgotten apparently by the selectors since the tour of England in 2000
John Ward19-Oct-2001Six weeks ago, Manicaland all-rounder Gary Brent was out in the cold as far as international cricket was concerned, forgotten apparently by the selectors since the tour of England in 2000. Then, when all else failed, he was recalled to the national side for the one-day series against South Africa, and immediately became Zimbabwe’s most accurate and reliable bowler. He talks to John Ward about his return.I didn’t have a very bad tour of England, although I wouldn’t call it particularly good, but I came home to find I had been dropped. I couldn’t even get into the B side from then onwards. I played a couple of A games against West Indies and India, but that was all until I got my call-up against the South Africans, which was great.Before then, I was told the reason I was out of the B side [that plays in the UCBSA Bowl competition) was that they knew what I could do and they were using the B side as a platform to look at the younger players coming through. I found that disappointing because I could never prove myself playing club cricket.IN DOMESTIC CRICKETI thought I had a pretty good season in Logan Cup; I think I was fourth-highest wicket-taker and my batting was a lot better this year. I was really chuffed with it. Manicaland nearly pulled off a historic win against Mashonaland, which wasn’t to be, but we gave them a good run for their money. I love playing for Manicaland and there is a good bunch of lads there. It’s just a pity we couldn’t have pulled off a couple more wins.My best memory is of getting five wickets in that match against Mashonaland, getting out the big guys like Grant, Andy [the Flowers] and Alistair [Campbell]. Those are always the big wickets to get, and to get them all in one innings is great. We so nearly pulled off a win but in the end we lost by two wickets. Paul Strang I thought changed the game there – he came in and ran really well with Donald Campbell, and that partnership took victory from us after we looked like taking it.BACK AGAINST SOUTH AFRICAI was picked to play in the one-day A game against South Africa in Bulawayo, but we didn’t do very well and I got smashed out of the park. I got sent home after that one-dayer, and I thought, "Oh, well, obviously I won’t get a call-up." The South Africans came quite hard at our bowlers and all of us got hit.Then I found out I was in at practice on the Monday, and I was told I was in contention to open the bowling, which was something different, as I didn’t even do that for my club. So I was very apprehensive, especially about bowling with the new ball. I’d always bowled first change for OH, and to bowl front-up to Gibbs and Kirsten is quite difficult.We had a game plan that, with the Harare Sports Club pitch being so slow, I would just mix up my pace and bowl wicket to wicket, concentrating on just bowling straight. Those batsmen thrive on width, and that was what I did. I ended up tying up the openers and I thought I came out all right.AGAINST ENGLANDThe Sports Club pitch is very much suited to my type of bowling, and I was really chuffed to take one for 29 off ten overs in the first match against England. I enjoyed that performance; you can’t really play huge shots on this type of pitch because the ball doesn’t really come on to the bat. With my mixing of my pace, it really helps me.In the second game, though, I got smashed, although it was on the same pitch – I shouldn’t have gone for 47. But I bowled badly; I bowled both sides of the wicket and bowled a bit of width, and these guys just love width. The third match was a terrible day for me personally, 53 runs off eight overs. I should never have gone for that; I don’t know what happened there.Maybe we didn’t put enough runs on the board, but they came really hard at us and we had no answer for them in our bowling. Our spinners bowled well, but we are struggling with our seamers at the moment. We’ve got a lot of injuries and it’s just one of those things.When we came to the first one-dayer in Bulawayo, I wasn’t too disappointed; I thought I bowled nicely at the death and got the ball reverse-swinging, which is quite nice to see. I got Kirtley with probably one of the best yorkers I’ve ever bowled, which was really nice. I was chuffed with our performance then.Our batting unfortunately was not very good, but I enjoyed the last one-dayer. I set myself up to bat a bit of time there and I was feeling pretty good. I was dropped off Flintoff, but I enjoyed my batting [7 not out]. I bowled all right but didn’t do anything exceptional.I thought England played very well. We did drop a few catches at crucial times of certain games, but I thought they were a good side. I thought their new guy Collingwood played particularly well; hopefully he’ll be a good future bet for England. I thought they were a good all-round side; they outbatted us and outbowled us.OUR BOWLING PROBLEMSUnfortunately we had problems with our seam attack. My game plan throughout my career has been just to bowl straight; I’ve got no pace at all, even when I bowl my quicker balls! But I have been working on my slower ball, which is not a bad ball to bowl on a slower pitch. I’m also developing an off-cutting slower ball to the left-handers, and that seems to work for me.The thing was, if you bowl from wicket to wicket it was a lot easier because you couldn’t really blast them out. Travis [Friend] bowls very quickly and he just showed that as soon as you’re slightly off line to these world-class batsmen they hit you far.PROBLEMS ON THE PERIPHERYThe atmosphere in the changing room was obviously quite downbeat after our run of defeats, but that’s something we hope we’ll put right now. We’re having a week off, which is good for us, I think. We’ve lost twelve games on the trot and I’ve played in seven of them, so something’s got to change round for us.I think there are too many problems on the periphery of our cricket, off the field of play. I know we’re supposed to be professionals but I know it does get on the minds of a lot of players, which is sad. Everyone says we should put it behind us when we walk on the field, but when it’s your livelihood and when you’re earning a living from it and you don’t know what will happen from the first thing to the next, it’s difficult. Of seven games, I only had the same opening bowling partner as in the last match once.THE NEW COACHI don’t think our senior players are suffering from burnout with so much cricket, though, but I just hope the periphery things around us get sorted out, and as soon as they are, you’ll see, we’ll be a much more relaxed squad. There are a lot of things on our minds, but we have a new coach now, and I know he’ll change a few things. [Geoff Marsh] seems a very hard man, but a very good man, and I think that’s something we need. We need to get a bit tougher.I think he’ll do wonders for us. He doesn’t take any trouble from anybody; whether you’re a senior or a junior player you get treated the same, which is good. We need to get a bit of toughness back into our game, and he tells everybody what they should do, regardless of who they are.We have a week off this week, before we travel to Sharjah next Tuesday [23 October]. I think we need it to recharge our batteries, and personally I’m absolutely knackered! In that week, though, we have a swimming session today; tomorrow we’ve got a sprint session; Wednesday a gym session; Thursday another swim session; Friday another sprint session; that’s our week off! Our work ethic is going to change with Geoff in charge, so I don’t know what a full week is going to be like!RELATIONSHIPS WITH ENGLANDThere have been stories about problems between ourselves and the England players, but personally I think it’s just one on one. As a group I think they are quite a nice bunch of lads, and I got on very well with guys like Chris Silverwood and Matthew Hoggard; they’re nice guys. It was just some of their more senior players that we didn’t always get along with.It’s tough in the field and you don’t expect us to smile about everything. Foster, it’s his first tour and he started to chirp Andy Flower; with 180 caps behind him, he didn’t need to do that.`Kirtles’ [James Kirtley] has played for us before, and he came to OGs [Old Georgians] a couple of years ago, and played for Mashonaland when they played England. He’s always had a suspect action, if you want to call it that, but it’s not up to us. It really didn’t enter into our minds at all. It wasn’t a big thing in the changing room; we know he’s a good bowler.THE TOP ENGLISH PLAYERSI really think Nick Knight is a good player. He improvises very well and he was very consistent. Sometimes I thought he played a couple of rash shots when he didn’t need to, but he’s a good player and hopefully he’ll do well.Our game plan against the England openers was to get the ball right up there with Trescothick, which I did in the first game and nicked him off early. We didn’t do it as well after that; we didn’t get the ball in the right areas, and that’s why he scored runs. Nick Knight likes to drive, so we tried to get him on the back foot, but he cut and pulled well, and drove well off the back foot. We needed two different lengths to them, but the big thing was that it didn’t matter whether we bowled short or full – if you gave them width, you’re going to fetch it.That was the key. They’re good players and they hit the ball hard, and you go for four if the ball isn’t right.Ramprakash is also a very good player. In the third one-dayer he came in number three and took the game by the scruff of the neck, played a couple of superb shots. I just remember a couple of shots off me, and he did really well. I think he’s a very good player when he leaves his sweep behind!I think Flintoff has the makings of a good player, but I think mentally he’s not strong enough yet. He’s a very strong man and hits the ball particularly well, but he’s his own worst enemy. He gets above himself and a bit overconfident. He’s a bit like Andy Blignaut in that, but I think Andy Blignaut has a lot more talent than Flintoff has. It’s no fun bowling to him when he wants to hit you.MUSINGS ON BOWLINGIt was such a long time from when I last played a one-day international in England to this time, and from not playing at all to suddenly playing in one-dayers – it felt like a long time! I hadn’t been playing bad cricket since then, and I haven’t been playing wonderful cricket lately, so it was good to be back.Bryan Strang is another bowler similar to me; he hasn’t any pace at all but if you bowl a length and line, you’re always going to make batsmen struggle. Pommie Mbangwa is another; I’m surprised he’s been put on the rack. We’ve no bowlers as it is, with all these injuries; he’s played lots of Test matches and one-dayers and taken good wickets, so I don’t understand it.Just because we haven’t got pace doesn’t mean we can’t bowl, and now that Andrew Flower has started standing up to the wicket the batsmen can’t run down on us like they used to. I think it’s something to look at.Henry [Olonga] and Travis [Friend] are both aggressive bowlers who seem to be a bit off form at the moment, but when you’re bowling that sort of pace it’s much more difficult to get the ball in the right areas. And when the ball does come off the bat it seems to go that much further because you’re bowling so much quicker. The ball gets hit a lot harder.LOOKING FORWARDI’ve never been to Sharjah before, and I’m looking forward to it – if I go. Apparently the pitches there are slow, which is good for me. Against the Sri Lankans and the Pakistanis it will be a different kettle of fish. I’ve bowled well against the Sri Lankans before – that’s when I started my career and it really took off. I haven’t really done well against the Pakistanis but I’m really looking forward to it.