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The Zimbabweans are the World Cup's finest sportsmen

R Mohan

The Zimbabweans are not to be blamed for anything that may have happened in their match against India. They played strictly by the rules and by the interpretation given by the umpires and the match referee.

They are the World Cup's finest sportsmen, in fact, the most sporting team in world cricket today. At Leicester, three of their batsmen walked against India, saving the umpires some embarrassment.

The backgrounds of some of their players are most interesting. There is a chicken farmer in Eddo Brandes, a big game hunter in Heath Streak and there are several hardy farmer folk in the playing eleven. Besides, there is a tenor, with a voice to bring visions of heaven.

What the Zimbabweans have brought to the game is exemplary behaviour. There is no recorded instance of a Zimbabwean player being pulled up by an ICC match referee, and that is saying a lot in today's cricket which is marked by all sorts of acts of gamesmanship.

There was one match in which Zimbabwe actually helped India win a World Cup match. Their sporting spirit shone on a rainy day in Hamilton when showers were threatening to impose a "no-result" on the match. Ihe Indians bowled their overs in an unseemly hurry in order to get 15 overs in, so that a result could be obtained. The batsmen, Andy Flower and Andrew Waller, batted on in blinding rain so that the 15th over was completed and India could win. And not too many overs were possible after the minimum required and India were declared winners.

Zimbabwe were in a similar situation against England. Both teams had previously been hit in that World Cup by bad weather or bad rules. The rain rule of 1992 was like a kangaroo court. The Zimbabweans had been aggrieved that in rearranging the target they had been badly done in. However, they did not lodge a protest and merely carried on playing in the hope of winning which they did sensationally when Brandes bowled England out.

In a rerun of such a great performance, Henry Olonga, the man with the dreadlocks, delivered the death blows, as many as three in an over, as Zimbabwe recorded a dramatic triumph at Leicester on Wednesday.

Had Olonga so chosen he could have been a singer. He had the voice and the repertoire to be a tenor. He preferred cricket and the Bible to a career in music. And they say he is only marginally slower than Shoaib Akhtar.

In matches in which the speed gun had been used, Olonga has been recorded as bowling at 92 miles per hour, which is not far from Akhtar's sensational 96 mph, which makes him the fastest bowler in the world today and who has the potential to break the 100 mph barrier.

The Zimbabwean spirit may have brought them their third win in a World Cup match. The chances of Olonga bowling that many deliveries on the spot were phenomenal. He fired every ball on target and his country had its first victory over India in a World Cup, two earlier wins having come against Australia in 1983 and against England in 1992.

The sole technicality on which the umpires and the match referee could be faulted was in rearranging the overs in such a manner as to reduce the field placement restrictions to 13 overs rather than the fuller 15 which applies to games that are not interrupted by the weather.

The offence is unlikely to be thought of as serious enough to reverse the verdict in the match or order a replay. The result will stand and India will have to continue with the task of winning three matches to stay in contention.