Suburban
A DAY after Zimbabwe national cricket player Donald Tiripano joined the growing number of cricketers flocking to the United Kingdom for club cricket, Sussex CCC signed former Zimbabwe cricketer and much-travelled coach Grant Flower to be their batting coach.
He replaces Jason Swift, who has stepped down to pursue other opportunities.
“It gives me great pleasure to be added to the Sussex coaching staff and I can’t wait to start,” Flower, an integral part of the Zimbabwe side from 1992 to 2010, said in a statement released by the club. “I have been told about the exciting young batters coming through the ranks and am excited to be given the opportunity of hopefully improving them along their journey.
“I always enjoyed playing against the Sharks and admired their professional approach and ultra-competitiveness. Hopefully I can add to that with some of my international coaching experiences and help contribute to make the Sharks batting unit both reliable and exciting.”
Flower’s last assignment was as batting coach of the Sri Lanka side, which ended in 2021 after a two-year stint. Prior to that, he had worked in a similar capacity with Pakistan and, before that, with Zimbabwe. He has also had coaching gigs with Essex and Midwest Rhinos in Zimbabwe.
During his playing career, which included 67 Tests (3457 runs at an average of 29.54) and 221 ODIs (6571 runs at 33.52), Flower spent six seasons with Essex, from 2005 to 2010, winning three one-day trophies with them.
“Grant is an absolutely fantastic addition to our staff,” Sussex’s championship and one-day head coach Ian Salisbury said.
“I’ve known him since my first trip to Zimbabwe in 1989 and can vouch for his personal qualities, while his coaching and playing record speak for themselves.
“With a young squad in the early stage of their careers, the quality of the coaching set-up is absolutely vital. To add someone with Grant’s track record alongside people like James Kirtley, Sarah Taylor, Ash Wright and Mike Yardy puts us in a really strong position. I feel humbled to be working alongside this group.
“There have been some challenges over the past year or so, but we’ve got to look forward now. We’ve got a brilliant coaching team in place, the medical and S&C teams are doing great work with the lads’ fitness, we’ve got the marquee going up early in the New Year, so we’re in a great position to now focus on the squad’s cricketing skills as we build up to the start of the season.”
Tiripano and Ainsley Ndlovu are the latest cricketers to join British clubs. Test all-rounder Tiripano was announced as the latest overseas acquisition by Sandford Cricket Club ahead of their 2022 Staffs Club Championship campaign.
The duo is part of the Zimbabwe team currently in camp preparing for the tour of Sri Lanka next week. Tiripano has emerged as one of Zimbabwean cricket’s stand-out all-rounders with 68 caps across all formats. Batting in the lower-middle order , Tiripano has produced highest scores of 95 (Test) and 55* (ODI) with the latter coming from only 26 balls against Bangladesh. With the ball, he has career best figures of 5-63 against Afghanistan but arguably his highlight was defending three runs in the final over against the West Indies, taking three wickets in the process to earn a heart stopping tie in November 2016.
Since then, Tiripano has been in and out of the Zimbabwean side, despite his success for his country, and in domestic cricket, with whom he has skippered the Mountaineers in recent years.
He was Logan Cup’s best bowler and all-rounder in 2017/2018, taking 30 wickets at 21.36 alongside his 678 runs at 75.33. He backed up with the bowling accolade the following season with a further 25 wickets at 15.24 (and 215 runs at 30.71).
Tiripano boasts the most enviable record of 400 domestic wickets and when you factor in his 3,500 plus runs, you have one of the best all-rounders in Zimbabwean cricket.
While he has excelled in red-ball cricket, his style of play is well suited to the shorter formats. An incredibly skillful bowler – he can swing and seam the ball in seamer-friendly conditions and is well-equipped with cutters and a home spun back-of-the-hand slower ball for non-conductive surfaces.
With the bat, he has evidenced his explosive power from the lower-middle order for both the Mountaineers and Zimbabwe.
Ndlovu, who broke into the Zimbabwe national team in June 2019, has been fighting hard for more caps with his left arm spin ever since.
He has enjoyed plenty of success in domestic cricket with Tuskers. He has taken 81 wickets at 31.12 in 28 first class matches, since his Logan Cup debut in 2014/15. In 50-over cricket, he boasts a further 48 wickets at 28.60 in 43 List A matches.
Other Zimbabwean cricketers who will be playing club cricket in the UK in 2022 are Jonathan Campbell, Tony Munyonga and Tendai Chisoro while former Zimbabwe Under 19 wicketkeeper Tinashe Chimbambo was also signed by Compton and Chandlers Ford as player coach for their 2022 Hampshire League campaign. – cricinfo/The Herald.
