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FULL NAME: Clement Mahachi
BORN: 27 September 1979, at Bulawayo
MAJOR TEAMS: CFX Academy (1999/2000), Matabeleland (2000/01). Present clubside: MacDonald Club (Bulawayo)
KNOWN AS: Clement Mahachi. Nickname: `Donkey’ – a translation ofMahachi
BATTING STYLE: Left Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Left Arm Medium Pace
OCCUPATION: CFX Academy studentFIRST-CLASS DEBUT: 3-5 March 2000, CFX Academy v Mashonaland, atCountry Club
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: Still awaitedBIOGRAPHY (updated April 2002)Unaccountably, all Zimbabwe’s black players to come through have been right-handers. Until Clement Mahachi, that is. The former Bulawayo Academy student, now a fulltime professional in Matabeleland, is a useful all-rounder who bats and bowls left-handed.Clement comes from a keen sporting family, but the predominant family interest is soccer and, like virtually every other black cricketer coming through at present, he has no family background in the game. His interest in cricket started at the age of ten or eleven at Lozikeyi primary school in the Bulawayo high-density townships, where the Zimbabwe Cricket Union introduced the game under their development scheme. He was very involved in soccer himself then, but had a friend with whom he used to play cricket for fun at times. He showed enough talent at both batting and bowling for his friend to use that as a reason to join him in attending the cricket sessions in the afternoon, run by Nicholas Sisingo.Clement remembers his first match, against the prominent Reps (Rhodes Estate Primary School) team, which was attended by Heath Streak and Henry Olonga. Opening the batting, he made his team’s top score of 30, and then took four wickets for 21 runs. He did not have the opportunity to attend the selection trials for the Matabeleland side that takes part in the national primary schools cricket week, though.Unfortunately there was no scholarship scheme in Bulawayo to ensure that Clement was able to attend a cricket-playing high school, and he had no school cricket after that. He did join Bulawayo Athletic Club, though, and was able to continue in the game there. In Form One, he says, he played for the BAC second team and scored 133 against a team from Sunrise, still his highest score in any class of cricket. He feels that his confidence in himself was his main attribute in such a remarkable innings at the age of about 14.It was not until the 1998/99 season that Clement was actually included in the BAC first team. He was playing successfully for the local development team that plays on Saturdays in the Bulawayo reserve league, later captaining the side to two league titles, and in 1997/98 he averaged 51 with the bat and also took plenty of wickets. Because of his lack of school cricket he was unable to attend representative trials for years, but finally, thanks to the provincial coach, former New Zealand Test player Bob Blair, he won selection for the Matabeleland Under-19 team and met experienced school players like Mluleki Nkala and others.Clement pays tribute to Mr Blair as a coach who has done a great deal to help him develop his game, especially with his bowling action. More recently Carl Rackemann has also helped him with his bowling. He has also had opportunities to bowl at the national side, and such touring teams as the Sri Lankans and Australians, in the nets, and has picked up useful tips from top players there.Clement was now in the squad for the full Matabeleland team, and played for a Matabeleland Invitation XI against the touring Australian Cricket Academy side, but without getting the chance to prove himself with bat or ball. He was invited to attend trials for the national Under-19 team for the World Cup, but it was discovered that he was too old to qualify.In 1999 Clement played well for Bulawayo Athletic Club, opening the batting, with 70 against Bulawayo Sports Club as his highest score amid several fifties, and taking wickets regularly, including four in an innings for 17 runs against Queens Sports Club. He was recommended as an Academy student for 2000 by the Matabeleland Board and by players like John Rennie who were impressed by his ability.At the Academy, with a number of all-rounders in the team, he was played mainly as a bowler who could bat, going in at number nine, while in the Logan Cup he became known mainly for playing an adhesive role, sometimes as night-watchman. He admits that he lacked confidence with the bat at first, which perhaps helped to account for a lowly position in the order to start off with. He regularly opened in Bulawayo club cricket, but felt he should aim for about number six in the Academy side. He is at present more fluent on the off side than the leg, and can cut well. He is also predominantly a front-foot player but is working on his back-foot technique.He spent the English season of 2000 playing for Brook Cricket Club in Surrey. "I struggled to bat there in the first couple of games because the pitches were a bit slow," he said. "But in the end I did well with the bat. The pitches were very good for my bowling, bowling my dibbly-dobbers!" He scored a couple of unbeaten eighties and his best bowling figures were four for 32. Unfortunately in mid-season he picked up a calf injury, which handicapped his batting and forced him to turn to spin bowling.He finished his year at the Academy, while playing with success for Old Hararians in the Vigne Cup. His best bowling performance was his four wickets against Old Georgians, but was unable to bowl for a month after dislocating a finger. He was posted back to Bulawayo after his year at the Academy and played for MacDonald Club, with more success in batting than bowling. His finger recovered in time for the Logan Cup programme, where he bowled some useful spells.He continued in Bulawayo in the final year of his contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, but moved to Bulawayo Sports Club on their promotion to the national first league. He scored 101 not out against Old Hararians in the very first match, but later suffered a back injury while practising his bowling that put him out for almost two months and caused him to miss the early part of Matabeleland’s Logan Cup programme. He felt his confidence as a batsman had improved while at the club.As a bowler the away-swinger is his stock ball, with an occasional inswinger as a surprise weapon. He usually fields in the middle distances, mid-on or mid-off.Although Clement does not come from a rich family, he is very grateful to them for their support. Although they are not a cricketing family, they used to watch him regularly in Bulawayo and give him every encouragement. He hopes to receive a new contract as player and coach at the end of 2002 but feels that he will need to work hard and produce the goods to merit it.Cricket heroes: "I’ve always looked on Brian Lara as my model as a batsman, and Wasim Akram as a bowler. Hopefully I will play better than them!"Toughest opponents: "In England I faced Saqlain Mushtaq in Graham Thorpe’s benefit match, and it was quite difficult to face the guy. On the local scene, Bryan Strang because he is quite deceptive; most of the time I have struggled facing him. The most difficult batsman to bowl to is Andy Flower, but while I was playing in that benefit match I had to bowl to Alec Stewart and he gave me a very difficult time."Immediate ambitions: "It’s quite a tough year for me because there’s a lot for me to do to improve myself as a professional cricketer. Hopefully I’ll make it as a professional cricketer. I would like to play for my country Zimbabwe and that means quite a lot of work."Proudest achievement: "Coming to the Academy has always been a dream for me because I felt that it would expose me to quite a lot of cricket. I think I will go one step further here by working hard and something has to come up."Best friends in cricket: "I’ve got a lot of friends, and in the Academy here I’ve discovered that we are all working as a team. It’s quite a bond and everyone here is my friend."Other sports: "I’ve played for the Zimbabwe junior side and at secondary school I used to play for the first team that twice reached the Coca Cola national finals. I love tennis, which is a morale-booster for me because of the ball-eye co-ordination."Views on cricket: "I give all credit to the establishment of the Cricket Academy here. Believe me, it’s worked wonders for me. Young guys get the exposure and spend lots of time thinking about cricket, playing cricket, and doing a lot in terms of physique. The professional supervision is very good and guys get to go to England to play. You get to understand cricket more than if you were practising on your own or playing for a club. I think it is going to make a difference in the near future."Going to the Academy was inspirational for me because I brushed shoulders with guys with different views and I got a lot of help from Dave Houghton, who has taught me different techniques and approaches to the game which has made a difference."

Several of Pakistan’s international players will take part in the Pentangular Cup which kicks off the first-class season on Saturday.Defending champions Sind, captained by Shahid Afridi, will be meeting last season’s runners-up Federal Areas in their four-day tournament opener, at the National Stadium. The other match starting simultaneously today is between Baluchistan and North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Quetta.The five teams in the competition includes 75 of Pakistan’s leading players, with the exception of Younis Khan, who is playing for South Australia.The players from Sind, chosen from the Karachi and Hyderabad regions, includes upcoming batsmen Khalid Latif and Khurram Manzoor, allrounder Fawad Alam, wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed and pace bowlers Sohail Khan and Anwar Ali, who earned national call-ups earlier this year.Also in the line-up are Test batsman Faisal Iqbal, Naumanullah, Faisal Ather, Rizwan Ahmed and legspinner Danish Kaneria.Federal Areas, including players from Islamabad and Rawalpindi, will have fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar as their star attraction. Rao Iftikhar, the captain, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat and Yasir Ali will back him up in the fast-bowling department.Ashar Zaidi, recently hospitalised suffering from serious heart and kidney problems, has been replaced in the team by allrounder Fayyaz Ahmed. Batsmen Raheel Majeed, Afaq Rahim, Umair Khan, experienced hands Bazid Khan and Naved Ashraf, and youngsters Usman Saeed and Umar Amin complete a very potent squad. Wicketkeeper Naeem Anjum and slow left-armer Imad Wasim, the Pakistan Under-19 captain until recently, will hope to catch the selectors’ eye during the tournament.In Younis’ absence, NWFP will be led by fast bowler Umar Gul. Also in the team are batsman Yasir Hameed, legspinner Yasir Shah and emerging left-arm fast bowler Junaid Khan.Like last season, Baluchistan includes only a handful of local players. Misbah-ul-Haq, the Test middle-order batsman, borrowed from Faisalabad, will captain the side.Punjab team, who were placed fourth last season, will play their first game on October 31, led by Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik. Mohammad Yousuf, Nasir Jamshed, Salman Butt, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Mansoor Amjad, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal and Wahab Riaz make up Punjab’s star line-up.When the Pentangular was introduced in to Pakistan’s domestic first-class circuit back in 1973-74, it was a five-team competition. When six teams competed in 1974-75 and a total of eight in 1976-77, it still continued to be known as the Pentangular.It was played off and on through the years and following a ten-year gap since 1995, it was revived in 2005-06 and the new season will be its fourth consecutive one.While Baluchistan, NWFP and the Federal Areas appeared as separate entities in a Pentangular Cup competition for the first time in 2007-08, Punjab and Sind had played a few seasons in the past.In the 2007-08 Pentangular Cup championship, which was played only in February-March earlier this year, the PCB had included what they believed were the 75 top players of the country in the five teams. Then, added to that roster, were names of 25 further players who were considered ‘promising young’ cricketers. This time round, for the time being at least, each team comprises 15 players only, in addition to two standbys.

Tatenda Taibu’s fractious relationship with Zimbabwe Cricket took another twist after he was allegedly involved in a row with Esther Lupepe, the board’s general manager (finance and administration).Taibu clashed with officials in 2005 and after he claimed that his family had been threatened, he turned his back of the national team. But after struggling to establish himself in a number of other countries, he made his peace in 2007 and resumed playing.The latest incident took place as a result of Taibu attempting to claim money he maintains is owed as a result of his wife and son accompanying him on the tour to Pakistan earlier this year. ZC insists that to pay him would be giving him preferential treatment and so it has refused.Lupepe and Taibu were seen embroilled in a heated argument in a Harare travel agent, although the incident surprised many as the former Zimbabwe captain is generally regarded as a placid individual.”There was such an incident and it is being investigated and attended to in accordance with our procedure,” said Lovemore Banda, the board’s media manager.It seems unlikely that anything will happen before the team leaves for the tour of Canada and Kenya next week, partly because of the time factor and partly because an already weakened squad desperately needs the experience that Taibu brings.

Ian Harvey, the former Australia allrounder, is set to join Hampshire as their overseas player for the Twenty20, as a replacement for Shane Watson.Harvey has been out of county action since his hopes of joining Derbyshire last year as a non-overseas player fell through. The Home Office turned down his application for British Citizenship because of a drink-driving conviction. That issue won’t matter this time, as Harvey will be joining as Hampshire’s one overseas player.However, a possible complication that will arise with Harvey’s signing is his links with the Indian Cricket League. He played for the Chennai Superstars and there have been warnings from Lalit Modi, the chairman of the IPL, that any team fielding ICL players will be disqualified from the lucrative Champions League, which was announced at the weekend.But with the Twenty20 Cup starting on Wednesday, and Cricket Australia still in the early stages of drawing up the regulations for the Champions League, counties have little option but to name full-strength teams and hope a compromise is found regarding ICL players.Harvey has an outstanding Twenty20 record with 993 runs in 32 matches and a strike-rate of 169.74. His top score is 109 and he has three centuries, alongside 33 wickets at 25.57 with his superb death bowling.Watson, Hampshire’s original signing for the Twenty20, was one of the stars of the IPL. His form has earned him a recall to the Australian one-day squad in West Indies after Matthew Hayden’s injury.

Omer Hussain, the 23-year-old left-hander, has been called up to Scotland’s squad for their Intercontinental Cup matches against Bermuda and Canada.Hussain, the cousin of Majid Haq, adds youth to the squad and he arrives in good form after averaging 62 for his local club, Ferguslie. His stand-in captain, Ryan Watts, is insistent that the presence of some younger faces is by no means for show.”The lads who have come in aren’t just being given an opportunity for the sake of it – they’re the ones who have been producing the goods at club-level and for Scotland A as opposed to being in on potential this time,” Watts told the . “Form has played a big part in selecting the 13-man squad and the likes of Gordon Goudie [West], Qasim Sheikh [Clydesdale] and Richie Berrington [Greenock] all represent the new wave of talent.”Scotland are still reeling from their thrashing by New Zealand, when they were hopelessly outclassed by eight wickets.”New Zealand are ranked No. 3 in the world and for Scotland to have had a chance of winning meant everything going our way,” Watts said. “Instead, right at the outset they won the toss and put us in on a wicket where we’d have fancied our chances of applying some pressure early on if roles had been reversed.”It wasn’t to be, but there were positives from the tri-series, particularly the win over Ireland, where Gavin Hamilton hit fifty and then kept going on and on, past his century mark.”Scotland’s match against Bermuda begins on July 10.

MELBOURNE, Nov 23 AAP – Victoria’s Matthew Elliott turned a season of starts into the big score that always beckoned to apply the screws to South Australia on the second day of the Pura Cup match at the MCG today.Elliott’s superb 191 gave the Bushrangers a 175-run lead at the halfway mark of the first-versus-second clash, and erased some of the frustrations this season has produced personally.The left-hander has failed to go on from several decent starts this season and also missed out for Australia A against England in last week’s run-feast in Hobart when a blow to the elbow forced him to retire hurt.He made amends today in a seven-hour stay (21 fours, one six) to spearhead Victoria to 5-377 at stumps in reply to South Australia’s 202 after Redbacks captain Greg Blewett won yesterday’s toss and batted.A 189-run stand between Elliott and Brad Hodge (96) had the effect of a torturer slowly tightening the rack on an opponent that fielded in dry heat and got little help from a placid pitch.Like Elliott, Hodge has failed to fire this season and looked destined for a sparkling century until Blewett had him LBW.But Elliott was the mainstay and his 24th Pura Cup ton for Victoria continued a run of big centuries before he was out nicking a tired cut shot 15 minutes from stumps.It also erased the disappointment of Hobart, where everything that could go wrong did.”I think I’ve just kept it a bit more simple, particularly since Hobart,” Elliott said.”I think you can come away from a game like that and say ‘Oh, everything’s going against me, I retired hurt one ball and I dropped four catches and the world’s against me’.”That’s just what happened, I didn’t go there to drop catches or to retire hurt first ball, so I think sometimes you can beat yourself up too much about those sort of things.”I went out there this game and tried to be positive and watch the ball and it worked out pretty well.”It was a pretty good wicket and I made the most of it.”South Australia lost paceman Ryan Harris (1-25) to a side strain in the first session and, indicative of their day, Blewett (3-32) finished with the best figures despite not bowling himself until the last session.

Somerset find themselves staring relegation in the face in the NUL following their controversial defeat last week, and face a vitally important match this weekend.On Sunday they entertain Worcestershire at the County Ground in what will be a rehearsal for the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy quarter-final match later in the month.The black pear county are enjoying a run of good form in one-day cricket and are currently in second place in the table. The Sabres will be looking to make amends for the NUL defeat they suffered when the two sides met at New Road in May and for the Benson and Hedges defeat at Taunton a fortnight earlier.Sunday will also be a big day for Somerset’s popular wicket-keeper Rob Turner, who was born at Malvern, who has nominated this to be his benefit match.Somerset will go into the match without the services of their main strike bowler Richard Johnson, who is still recovering from a hamstring injury. Their bowling resources were even further depleted yesterday when Simon Francis, who gave his best display of the season against Surrey broke a finger, and will be sidelined for the next few weeks.Initially it had been hoped that Jamie Cox might have recovered from his broken thumb to face the Worcester Royals, but this now seems unlikely, and his return all being well will now be in the match against Yorkshire at Scarborough on Wednesday.The Somerset team will be: Matthew Wood, Piran Holloway, Mike Burns, Peter Bowler, Keith Parsons, Ian Blackwell, Rob Turner, Keith Dutch, Graham Rose, Matthew Bulbeck and Steffan Jones.Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: "This is an important match for us, and after last week’s disappointments we will be looking for a result on Sunday."

After seeing his side beaten inside two days by Lancashire in their final championship match of the season Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: "This has been the worst season that I have experienced since I have been at the club, especially after 2001 was probably the best ever in the history of the county."He continued: "We have got to regroup, and we are going to make changes. I haven’t lost confidence in the players that we have on the staff, but we will be making some new signings to create competition for places."Out on the field Somerset had started the day in a strong position, but allowed the last four Lancashire wickets to add 140 runs this morning to take their score to 228.For the Cidermen Matt Bulbeck ended with career best figures of 6 for 93.Batting for a second time Somerset were dismissed for 129 in 46.3 overs, with only Piran Holloway(45) and Arul Suppiah (21) staying for long, and lost their last six wickets for the addition of just 13 runs.Chasing a target of 123 for victory home supporters were given something to cheer about when the first two wickets went down cheaply, but after that David Byas(63 not out) and Stuart Law(57 not out) made no mistake and saw the `Red Rose’ county home in the 17th over to record a comfortable eight wicket victory.After the game the players from both teams formed a guard of honour for umpires Ken Palmer for who this was the last ever championship game before he retires from the list.Reflecting on the day the Somerset coach continued: "Today has been typical of the season that we have been having. We get ourselves into a good position and then we capitulate. We probably deserve to be in the position that we are in."Regarding the bowling performances of Johnson and Bulbeck he told me: "They have both bowled really well, but we need to back it up with good catching and fielding which is what we haven’t done all season, Stuart Law was dropped early on today and we can’t afford to do that."

The ECC’s European Development Manager, Ian Stuart, and the ECC Trophy Tournament Director, Richard Mockridge, visited a cold and snowy Vienna over the weekend of 7th-8th December in preparation for the forthcoming ECC Trophy, which will be held in Vienna and Lower Austria between 10th and 17th August 2003, and which provisionally is a 12 team tournament (at the time of writing), and is the most important tournament for ICC affiliate members in Europe, also serving as a qualifying tournament for the ECC European Championships. It was through finishing as runners up in the 2001 ECC Trophy that Austria qualified for the ECC European Championships in Northern Ireland.Ian and Richard also attended the ACA’s League Meeting, at which the formats of competitions for the 2003 season were finalised, before meeting the organising committee for the 2003 ECC Trophy. On the Sunday morning there was an inspection of the grounds that will be hosting the ECC Trophy, namely Vienna CC’s grounds in Seebarn, Lower Austria, and Concordia CC’s ground in Markommannenstrasse in the 22nd district of Vienna. The League Meeting also served as an opportunity to meet representatives of other clubs in Austria, as well as representatives from Ljubljana CC, who play in the Austrian League.

Challow and Childrey:
Berkshire 385 (J Wood 129, TJ Pritchard 80, JR Perkins 60, GS Peddy 6-85)
Oxfordshire 66-0.Shrewsbury:
Shropshire 267 (TJ Mason 146*)
Wiltshire 58-3.Hertford:
Norfolk 451/7 (C Amos 180, CJ Rogers 153)- New 1st wicket record of 335
Hertfordshire 19/2