The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
CRAIG ERVINE looks worlds apart from the lad who quit the national team in December 2013 following a contractual dispute with Zimbabwe Cricket.
Twenty-three matches, five half-centuries and no tons.
That was the batman’s summary when he announced his retirement from international cricket before heading to Ireland to play for Lisburn.
After an 18 month hiatus, Ervine made himself available for national team selection ahead of this year’s ICC Cricket World Cup and his 2015 stats make impressive reading.
Twelve matches, two half-centuries, two unbeaten tons and a batting average of 51.88.
Ervine made headlines at the World Cup with a super catch to dismiss South Africa’s AB DeVillers.
He followed up a strong World Cup showing with a maiden century, his unbeaten 130 runs off 108 balls helping the Chevrons to an impressive seven wicket victory over New Zealand in August this year.
Another century (101 not out) then helped break a two-year wait for a series victory as the Chevrons saw off Ireland 2-1 last week.
Through it all, Ervine has remained the hardworking, simple and soft spoken guy he always has been.
It begs the question what has led to this rich vein of form?
“Well, being promoted up the order has truly helped my game,” said the left handed batman.
“It is where I enjoy playing, especially at club and franchise level. When one comes in down the order, you hardly have time to settle and build an innings, as you are either required to speed up the run rate or finish off a game.
“However, when batting up the order you have time to settle, pick your shots and construct a proper innings.”
With the number three batting position now his to lose, Ervine has big shoes to fill given the calibre of players that came before him.
Among them are the likes of former skippers Andy Flower, Tatenda Taibu and Brendan Taylor.
In a team that is yearning for a match winner, Ervine is being touted as the next go to man following the departure of Taylor.
However, the 30-year-old insists it’s all about team work.
“The good thing that has come out of the team this year is that we have had more and more games and as such many players have delivered the goods when required.
“(Sikander) Raza, Elton (Chigumbura), Chamu (Chibhabha) and even Hamilton (Masakadza) have all at one time or another come through with big innings.
CRAIG ERVINE
“Sometimes it has been in a winning cause and sometimes we have lost the matches, but the most important thing is that everyone wants to contribute.
“The mood in the camp after the Ireland series was high; we came together as a unit and played three good games, albeit losing the third,” he said.
Opening on some of the stand-out fragments of his career, Ervine insisted he never thought of playing for Ireland.
“What happened was that we had a contractual dispute with ZC and parted ways on good terms.
“I needed to take care of family and decided to go overseas to improve my game and earn some money,” he said.
“Zimbabwe is my home and if you think about it, it really doesn’t make sense that I would want to play for Ireland.
“I am 30 years old and it would take me at least four years to be eligible to play for them and then I would need more years to prove my worth.
“I would lose no less than six years of my international career and that would be simply wasteful.
“As far as our future prospects go, I think Zimbabwe is a team on the rise.
“The senior players are starting to take up responsibility and chipping in with crucial runs, while we currently have a good stream of youngsters coming up.
“Wellington Masakadza, Tino Mutombodzi and Luke Jongwe all held their own against Ireland.
“There is still room for them to grow and it is my hope to see them play more games before we pass any judgement on their calibre.”
