Craig Ervine Interveiw

[zimfan1]

Rocks’ new batting sensation

By Tinashe Kusema

AS a young Craig Ervine lay motionless on his bed at the Avenues Clinic, waiting for the results of a three-hour reconstructive operation to his right arm, a thousand thoughts came to his mind.

The thought of never being able to play cricket again sent a cold chill down his spine.
The initial diagnosis had been heartbreaking: the damage to his right hand was so bad that amputation was considered as one of the options.
Ervine, who was 13 at the time, had been brought to the Avenues Clinic after a freak accident at the beginning of 1998.
The young Ervine cut his veins and arteries after slipping and falling on a broken glass in his family’s living room.
“I remember numerous thoughts flooding my mind that day but only one stood out and it was never being able to play sports again” reflected the 24-year-old Southern Rocks batsman.
However, it was announced that the operation had been a success.
“I was told that the doctors had managed to repair most of the damage by joining the veins and arteries after they cut me further so as to reach the other glass pieces.
“I was in the hospital for three weeks during which I realised just how much cricket meant to me.
“Rehabilitation soon followed. I went through intense physiotherapy, and came up with plans to take up cricket fulltime with the under-19 and national squad the chief targets,” Ervine revealed.
It was at this moment that the young brother to former national team batsman Sean Ervine was reborn and began his long road to stardom.
The journey has seen the highly rated batsman endure short stints in England and Ireland before deciding to come back home towards the end of last year.
However, the story of Ervine does not start at the Avenues Clinic but rather it has its roots firmly tucked in the sleepy town of Mhangura.
Ervine comes from a lineage of cricketers. His father and uncle, Rory and Neil, played domestic cricket in the 1980s although they never represented the country.
His brothers, Ryan and Sean, also took up the sport with the latter going as far as representing the country, so inevitably he was bound to follow suit.
“I got into the sport through my father who taught us all the basics from a very tender age. He never made it a point to force us into the sport but only encouraged us, offering his support and advice.
“As time went on, I began to like the sport and got the inspiration from the likes of Andy Flower and my elder brother, Sean, who enjoyed a lot of success in the sport but it was never a first love.”
At primary school Ervine juggled cricket with a host of other sports like rugby, football and enjoyed fishing during his sparetime.
“When I was still very young, doing my junior and secondary studies at Brydon and Lomagundi College I was into different kinds of sports and did not have a particular favourite.
“However, all that changed soon after the accident as cricket took over and became my life”
Ervine did not finish his studies as he chose to pursue his cricket dream.
“The accident changed me a lot as I became more disciplined and focused on my goals and got rewarded by being recruited into the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy midway into my A-level studies at Lomagandi.
“Bigger things soon followed, as I was drafted to play for Midlands Province, Zimbabwe’s Under-19 and A sides.”
Now, with a scar on his right hand as the only visible memory he has of the “life changing accident”, Ervine has broken into the franchise cricket arena with the Masvingo based side Southern Rocks.
Predominately a one-day player, Ervine has been a regular feature in the middle of Rocks’ batting line-up and usually comes in at number five.
And after spending several years abroad, Ervine is enjoying life back home.
“‘I played most of my cricket in Europe with English clubs Bexhill and Lordhood then moved to Irish club Lisbon located in Belfast.
“I spent about six months at each of the three teams during the past two years, playing mostly the one-day games but later on decided to come back home where I received an offer from Rocks.”
Unfortunately, Rocks have struggled with form in the Logan Cup and are already out of the running for the final.
However, the Masvingo based side are still in with a chance of collecting silverware in the Faithwear and Metbank ODI competitions.
But it would appear that Rocks stand a much better chance of landing some silverware in Twenty-20 competitions.
They were finalists in last year’s Twenty-20 competition and will be hoping to go one better this year.
Naturally Ervine has been at the centre of Rocks’ one-day game chipping in with the bat in the middle order although he has been occasionally called upon to come in early as a night watchman.
His statistics make for impressive reading having featured in 19 games and scored 484 at an average of 53,77.
His highest score to date is an unbeaten 111 against Mountaineers in November last year. Asked about his future plans, Ervine disclosed that he has set his sights on playing the game at the highest level.
“At the moment I want to concentrate on helping Southern Rocks win the league in all competitions and later break into the national team.
“I hope to continue playing here in Zimbabwe as well as in England during the off season. I believe playing in England will help me improve on my game,” said the Rocks batting sensation.

Sunday Mail

[sloandog]

A wonderful interview. Hope this young star does break into the national side in the near future, as he's filled with pure talent. It's just the Ervine trend

[Tombo]

Hes doesnt have bad stats but on the whole he is no where near the top 6 batsman in Zimbabwe but in the future maybe. Does anyone know what happened to Ryan Ervine? played a couple of games for the Southern Rocks and has vanished.

[Tinashce Ruswa]

Slugger.,...

[sloandog]

A very talented player is Craig Ervine. I can't believe he wasn't even on the provincial squad list for the Windies tour