FULL NAME: Gavin Mackie Ewing
BORN: At Harare, 21 January 1981
MAJOR TEAMS: Matabeleland (2001/02 to date). Present club team: BulawayoAthletic Club
KNOWN AS: Gavin Ewing. Nickname: Boothy (“It came from the short time I hadat the Academy, because they said I looked like a phone booth!”)
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Off Break Bowler
OCCUPATION: Semi-professional cricketer
FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: Matabeleland v Mashonaland, at Bulawayo Athletic Club, 15-18February 2002
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: Still awaited
BIOGRAPHY (November 2002)Almost all of Zimbabwe’s newcomers to the world of international cricket nowadays are products of the CFX Academy, established in 1999. It is surprising, then, that Gavin Ewing should be selected as a member of the Zimbabwe national squad to play Pakistan only nine months after making his first-class debut, and not only having missed attending the Academy but having been rejected by it.Gavin comes from a keen cricketing family where every member has a love for the game. His father, although a Zimbabwean, attended St Andrew’s College in South Africa and so represented Eastern Province in the Nuffield Schools Week for three years; Gavin thinks that being a Zimbabwean made him ineligible for possible selection for the South African Schools team.Naturally, then, Gavin was introduced to cricket very early in life. “From a young age I just loved the game and played a lot with him in the back yard,” he said. When Gavin was still very young, his father had the opportunity to run his own business in South Africa, and so Gavin began his school career for Murchison Preparatory School in Pietermaritzburg, and spent his first year at high school in Potchefstroom. “Things didn’t go according to plan for them,” said Gavin, “so once I had finished my junior school he started working in Botswana, so I did one year of high school in Potchefstroom; then he got the chance to return to Zimbabwe and farm, so we moved back here and I ended up going to Falcon College, from Form Two onwards.”Most talented players start their school careers as all-rounders, although often specializing later, but Gavin concentrated on batting at first during his school years. He remembers making ‘lots of fifties’, although no centuries, and was selected for the Natal primary schools team. Then, he said, “once I got to Falcon I had to start bowling to make the side, because our age group was quite strong; there were guys like ‘Syke’ Nkala and Croxie (Guy Croxford), so I had to bowl as well if I wanted to make the side, so I started bowling off-spin. I wasn’t really into it (in South Africa) as much as I was here, because to make the side here was much more difficult because it was such a strong side. So I then became quite keen on playing the game.”From that time Gavin has considered himself as a bowler who can bat, although going in at seven or eight at Falcon did not give him much opportunity with the bat. He had a number of sixor seven-wicket hauls for the school in his three years in the first team and a hat-trick against Plumtree.In Form Two he played for the national Under-15 team in the PG Bison Week in South Africa and the following year in the Under-15 World Cup in England, where he had a five-wicket haul against Canada and finished as one of the top five wicket-takers in the tournament. He missed the next two years as far as representative cricket went, but in his final year, 1999, he made the team for the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka and finished in the top ten wicket-takers.Gavin started playing club cricket in Form Two, for Bulawayo Athletic Club, but after a year and a half “found I wasn’t enjoying it there because there were a lot of older guys who expected us mainly to run around and do things for them.” He moved to Crescent, a predominantly Indian team in Bulawayo, and found he was looked after much better in a young, growing team.His family then moved up to the Harare area and started farming, so Gavin played a year’s club cricket for Alexandra Sports Club when not at school. “But that didn’t last long because I was kicked out of the Academy,” he admits. “I left and went overseas for two years to play cricket; I played a season in South Africa for Zingari in Pietermaritzburg, which was good competitive cricket and I played with a lot of the Natal provincial players like Doug Watson. Then I came back to Zimbabwe and played a season for Queens last year, and now I’m back at BAC captaining the side this year.”Gavin says he is still not sure what went wrong at the Academy when he was initially accepted in 2001, after his first season of club cricket in England. “From what I gather, we agreed that I was going to come to the Academy to get fit and lose weight, and there were certain things I was hoping to achieve. When I arrived obviously they weren’t happy with my weight and my fitness, and after about two weeks Davy Houghton asked me to leave and said I should come back when I had lost more weight and was fitter. It was a bit of a blow and I still think to this day that nobody knows exactly why it happened. It’s never really been cleared up, but in my mind it’s over now and I’m looking to move on after what’s happened.”Gavin applied again for 2002, but was turned down with no reason given. He has applied again for 2003, and waits to see what will happen. He is stockily built and at the time of writing does not appear to have much of a weight problem.When Gavin finally returned to Bulawayo at the start of 2002, he was plunged into the Logan Cup team immediately for the match against Mashonaland as a spinner, as two original choices were injured and Ian Engelbrecht had decided to emigrate. He immediately made an impact with the bat, making scores of 83 and 106 not out in a high-scoring match, won by eight wickets by Mashonaland after they began with the then record total for any first-class Zimbabwean team of 644 for nine declared (Gavin three for 136). This, he says, was his first century in any significant class of cricket, discounting centuries made in house matches at school.”I got 83 in the first innings and thought, ‘You’ve missed out there on a big chance,'” said Gavin. “Then in the second innings I got my hundred and was not out, batting at number eight. It was an amazing feeling, especially due to the fact that my mother and father were there as well.”Gavin has kept his place in the Matabeleland team ever since and continued to impress with both bat and ball, putting in an enormous amount of work as a spinner, frequently bowling 50 or more overs in a match. “We haven’t played on many turning pitches; we’ve played on a lot of flat decks and I’ve had to bowl long spells. It’s been good, because we don’t have that many star players like the Flowers (in Matabeleland), but guys like Pom (Mbangwa) and ‘Syke’ (Nkala), guys who have been around a long time and learned by being dropped and then picked, so they’ve also had to work hard. The team spirit is good because we all want to play for our country but we’re not regulars in the national side, so we all have to work hard for each other, which is nice.”Gavin has still not scored any centuries in club cricket, and only counts his two first-class centuries; he recently recorded a new high of 148 against Matabeleland in Bulawayo, in another losing cause; he also bowled 62 overs in the match. His best bowling figures in an innings are nine for 17, recorded in his final year at junior school in South Africa.Gavin’s only serious injury was last year when playing for Queens, when he suffered from sciatica in his back, but this was quickly sorted out. “I do have a problem in that one of my legs is a little longer than the other, so I have problems with my hips,” he says. But he still manages to bowl 40 or more overs in an innings regularly.His appointment as captain of BAC is his first real experience of the job. He had planned to return to England in 2002 and captain his club team, Orrell Red Triangle in the Liverpool competition, but he chose to stay in Zimbabwe to train with the national side and play hockey to improve his fitness. During his two seasons with them, 2000 and 2001, he was second-highest wicket-taker both times, taking more than 70 wickets each time. He did so much bowling that in 2000 he broke the club record for the most overs in a season, and then broke it again in 2001.His batting, he feels, was more disappointing. “I didn’t really come to terms with my batting while I was there,” he says. “My confidence only came back when I returned to play here and in South Africa. I’m hoping that if I get to go over there again soon I’ll do better with the bat and keep improving with the ball.”As a batsman Gavin is aggressive and “I like to hit boundaries and be positive; I’m not big on running too many singles or sticking around and doing nothing.” He is more comfortable off the back foot, and is a strong puller and hooker. In the four-day game he is quite happy to go in at six or seven, but would like to bat a bit higher in the one-day game if he merits it so as to get more time at the wicket.As a bowler he does not spin the ball much but relies more on accuracy. “I don’t try to do too much; I don’t really try to get the batsman out but let him get himself out by getting frustrated and playing a bad shot. It’s worked; I know I have to learn to turn the ball if I want to make it a lot further in cricket but for the moment I’m quite happy with what I’m doing.”As a fielder he has fielded everywhere, but does not enjoy the slips, as he feels his reactions are not good enough. “I usually field mid-off, mid-on or square leg.”Gavin pays tribute to his father’s advice and guidance over the years. “My dad has always been a coach for me because he’s always been there and he knows a lot about the game.” He realizes he owes a lot to friends he has worked with over the years, especially Mluleki Nkala. At Falcon Dave Fleming, he says, always had time for him and helped a great deal, while former national player Robin Brown at Under-16 level on two tours was a good influence. He mentions his first coach at Falcon, Dave Grant, and says, “He always warned me that the matter of fitness would come in and encouraged me to train, and maybe if I had listened to him earlier I could have got further than I am now.”Also he mentions his BAC colleague and Matabeleland captain of 2001/02, ‘Porge’ Williams, who helped him especially on the mental side, “how to approach the game and think about it, and confront the issues with my weight and fitness, and things like that.” Finally national coach Geoff Marsh: “He worked with us for Mat’land these last three weeks and was also very positive and helped out a lot in that department.”Gavin is still hoping for a proper contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, and lives at the moment mainly from his earnings in England and match fees in Zimbabwe, while “my folks have been very good about helping me with money.”Cricket heroes: “I’m a big fan of Saqlain Mushtaq because he’s an offie, and I think when you compare him to Murali and Harbhajan Singh he’s been around the longest, and in my mind he’s probably the best off-spinner, even though other people wouldn’t agree. I’d like to sit down with him and talk about a few things bowling-wise because I’ve got to speak to guys like Raymond Price and Brian Murphy, but they’re not off-spinners, so it would be nice if I could get a chance to talk to Saqlain on this tour because I think he’s got a lot to offer. While we were training for the Under-19 World Cup Richie Kaschula came down for a while and did a lot of work with me, which was nice. He was a bit like me in that he also put the ball in the right areas.”I like Shane Warne because of his aggression as a cricketer, and I was a big fan of Hansie Cronje. It was a bit disappointing after everything that happened because I think he always gave of his best no matter what.”Toughest opponents:Bowlers – “I’ve always struggled against Syke Nkala because we played a lot of school and Under-19 cricket together and he knows a lot of my strengths and weaknesses. When we’ve played each other in club cricket he has usually had the better of me. I think Raymond Price is very difficult, because he is probably one of the best spinners in the world at the moment because of his accuracy and confidence. Travis Friend has always been a good bowler because he gets good bounce off the pitch and I’ve never been able to play him as well as I would like.”Batsmen – “Craig Evans and Craig Wishart because they are both very good players of spin and they hit the ball very hard, so they don’t let you get away with bad balls. Douggie Marillier, be he’s a very good worker of the ball and finds it a lot easier than most to score singles off me, which puts me under pressure. Alistair Campbell, Andy and Grant (Flower) obviously – playing against them in the Logan Cup was a new experience because I’ve never bowled at them before in a game. It was a turning wicket and they played me fairly easily.”Personal ambitions: “In first-class cricket I’d like to get to 100 wickets, which I think is a first mark, and then move on to 200 and 300, if I play that long. In my mind I’m more of a bowler, so whenever I get the chance to make runs I just use the opportunity, because I don’t know whether I’ll bat every game.”Proudest achievement so far: “I think there are a few: the first time I made Zimbabwe, even thought it was Under-16, was very nice; going to an Under-19 World Cup and playing for my country was very special; obviously getting my first five-wicket haul and first-class century were good; but I think the best moment for me right now was getting the chance to be part of the Test squad for this Pakistan tour, because two years ago when I was kicked out of the Academy I never thought I would make it again in cricket. The fact that I’m now back in the fold, in a sense, is an amazing feeling and it’s great to be part of cricket again. Hopefully one day my proudest moment will be making my Test debut or one-day debut!”Best friends in cricket: Syke Nkala – we’ve room a lot together and he was my captain and school and he’s been very supportive, so he had a big influence on my career. Also Guy Croxford (who was at school with me), Ian Coulson (we’re both spin bowlers so we’ve done a lot of work together); the guys I went to school with or played cricket with at school, like Sean Ervine, Travis Friend, Campbell Macmillan, Dion Ebrahim.Other qualifications: A-levels. “If I got a serious injury now and had to pull out of cricket I’d be really buggered!”Other sports: “I played Matabeleland men’s hockey and did get picked for Zimbabwe Under-19 hockey, but had to pull out because of the Under-19 World Cup because they both clashed and cricket was more of a love. I’m not allowed to play rugby because of a neck injury that ruled me out when I was at junior school.”Outside interests: “I enjoy chess – I find it very relaxing – but really just sport.”