da poker： Fast bowler Andy Blignaut, the star of Zimbabwe’s victory in thesecond Test against India at Harare on Monday, is not overawed byreputations and feels the right line and length yield results againstany batsman
19-Jun-2001Fast bowler Andy Blignaut, the star of Zimbabwe’s victory in thesecond Test against India at Harare on Monday, is not overawed byreputations and feels the right line and length yield results againstany batsman.Blignaut took six wickets in the Test to bag the man-of-the-matchaward. Having accounted for Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman twice in theTest series and Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly once, he was worthmore than the nine wickets he picked up from the two games.”I don’t get overawed by reputations,” Blignaut said. “I just wantedto bowl in the channel, on or outside the off-stump.”The 22-year-old seamer has ambitions of becoming the Lance Klusener ofZimbabwe – a powerful hitter in the lower order and a more than usefulfast-medium bowler. But he didn’t have the right approach – until now.”He was a spoilt rich kid. He had that air about him where he couldn’tcare any less about anything or anyone else,” says former Zimbabwecaptain Dave Houghton who coached Blignaut at the CFX Academy.”Having said that, one must appreciate how quickly he realised he mustwork hard to get back into the international arena. Also, he is one ofthe cleanest strikers of a cricket ball I have seen. He once hitDamien Fleming of Australia for three successive sixes in a one-dayinternational in Bulawayo, all whistling clean hits,” Houghton said.After a couple of such powerful innings against Australia, Blignautwas let down by his back and he was out of international cricket forseveral months.”I’ve been struggling with a stress fracture. One of the vertebrae ofmy back was cracked,” Blignaut said. “That’s put me out for six orseven months.”Andy, as he is called though his given name is Arnoldus, was out ofcricket between December 1999 and February 2000, missing the hometours by South Africa and Sri Lanka, and the triangular tournament inSouth Africa also involving England.”I have tried to become a bit more of a front-on bowler instead of aside-on bowler to conserve my back,” Blignaut said.When he was growing up, Blignaut was advised to bowl leg-spin so thathis body could avoid the strain of fast bowling. But his heart was inpace bowling and he soon returned to his old style.Bowling for him has always come naturally and he received littlecoaching in his early years. He did spend some time at the MRF PaceFoundation at Chennai, along with Brighton Watambwa, where DennisLillee assured him that he had the right action for a bowler ofgenuine pace.Blignaut still does not have a contract with the Zimbabwe CricketUnion and is paid roughly $150 per game.”I hope to have a contract with the ZCU soon. I had a chronic backinjury and they probably felt I wasn’t worth the risk,” he said.