elton chigumbura interview

[jimbo]

Hi there. I thought id copy and paste an article from thye zinmbabwean previewing the logan cup..Also right at the bottom is an interview with elton chigumbura


Logan Cup kicks off

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU
MUTARE

Skippered by Hamilton Masakadza, the Westerns clashed with the Northerns in an explosive four-day match of the Logan Cup, which ends at Mutare Sports Club today.

The country’s premier competition in the history of cricket roared into life with two encounters, Mutare and Kwekwe (Centrals and Westerns).
The showpiece features provincial sides – Westerns (Matebeleland), Northerns (Mashonaland), Easterns (Manicaland) and the Southerns (Masvingo) – who play a series of four-day matches in a round robin format that will last more than a month of blistering cricket action.Former national team assistant coachSteven Mangongo is confident his charges –Easterns – will be focused on defending their title.The defending champions will be boasting experienced national team players such as Masakadza, Prosper Utseya, Tymcen Maruma and Tino Mawoyo.“Johnson Marumisa is also a potential national team player who has been outstanding for Takashinga. The young man is set to prove himself in the Logan Cup,” Mangongo told The Zimbabwean on Sunday.Their opponents, the Northerns, coached by Edward Matsikenyeri, are not there to make numbers, but will be out to prove something, boasting an equal number of reliable national team players. Among them is the award-winning all-rounder Elton Chigumbura, Brendan Taylor, Graeme Cremer, Raymond Price and Prince Masvaure.

Stars shoot down Dynamos

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU
HARARE

Dynamos fanatics seem to have a reason to justify each defeat that comes their way, The Zimbabwean on Sunday has learnt.The league giants were massacred 0-3 by Shooting Stars on the afternoon of the Independence Cup semi-finals at Gwanzura, much to the disillusionment of staunch followers.“That was a ‘B’ side, gentlemen. Shooting Stars should never fool themselves into believing they will beat Dynamos. I will bet with my last bearer cheque, they are way too small for us,” was the argument of one fan after the match on Tuesday.Despite the absence of Dynamos key players, Justice Majabvi, Murape Murape, Desmond Maringwa, and Edward Sadomba among others, Shooting Stars’ Milton Ncube, William Kupera, Pride Tafirenyika and Elvis Meleka proved to be a force to reckon with.Shooting Stars manager, a delighted Patson Ndabambi, lauded the commendable display by his charges telling The Zimbabwean on Sunday “they deserved the win. Dynamos just didn’t perform today and a Dynamos team without Majabvi is still Dynamos.”Stars supporters will be expecting some entertaining football again this afternoon when their side faces Njube Sundowns, in a CBZ Premier Soccer League match in Bulawayo.The Wild Boys have recorded six points from the three matches played, after outwitting Underhill and Monomotapa with a defeat at the hands of new-boys, Kiglon.Despite knowing Sundowns to be “a team that is difficult to beat at home”, Ndabambi expects his charges to be at their best today “to get the maximum points” as he believes “one needs to win in these difficult games to be counted among the best”.




Conrad Rautenbach at the wheel.

Rautenbach rallies in Jordan

BY SPORTS REPORTER
HARARE

Zimbabwe’s most successful rally driver ever, 23-year-old Conrad Rautenbach, is in Jordan this week for the FIA World Rally Championship, round 5/15. Rautenbach and his British co-driver David Senior bagged five points in Argentina last month. Now the pair want more.This being the Jordan Rally’s debut, nobody knows what to expect. Many of the roads have been built in their entirety and those remaining from previous years have been resurfaced, ensuring this is one of the smoothest gravel events in the series.One unique factor for the Jordan Rally is the height at which the action takes place: much of the event takes place below sea level. Another feature of this fifth WRC round of the season is the gruelling final day, the longest of the three days and a sting in the tail if ever there was one.The biggest hurdle standing in the way of Rautenbach and his aim of improving on his current eighth position in the drivers’ championship is the Jordan River test. At 41.45 kilometres, this Sunday stage will be an epic. It’s tough enough having to drive it once, but the event’s longest test is run twice on the final day – providing a major challenge for the drivers who have already survived two tough days of rallying in the desert.Rautenbach says: “…the biggest lesson I learned in Argentina was that to drive faster, you have to learn to drive slower. Of course, that’s not in the literal sense, but you have to relax about everything in the car; trying to force anything with these things is sure-fire way to disaster.“Running in much warmer weather will also get the tyres working much at their optimum performance. To receive the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally Award was awesome recognition not just for David and myself, but the whole team behind us. But Argentina’s done now. It’s history and I have to build on that achievement.”




Over the moon – or is it stumps? Elton Chigumbura is a talented young player ready to move Zimbabwe into world-class cricket again.

Off the field

Just as you can’t talk about late-20th century Zimbabwean cricket without mentioning legends such as the country’s hardest-hitting batsman of all time, Andy Flower, it seems you can’t talk about the future without mentioning superb all-rounder in the making Elton Chigumbura. This was one sociable young man who left Grace Chirumanzu wishing they could just keep talking..

GC: You won the Master Blaster bowler award in SA recently after an impressive record haul of 5 for 13. How was the feeling?
EC: I felt good because for me it’s always something good to break records. I thank the Almighty for it.
GC: Your batting is commendable and your bowling is superb. Which of the two do you enjoy most and where do you think your strength lies?
EC: I enjoy batting and I feel Ido better with the bat than the ball. But recently my bowling has been better, so l believe it’s balancing now.
GC: How do you handle the criticism from the media? Does it affect you?
EC: I ignore it. Sometimes I don’t take everything they say; I just focus on my potential and work hard on strengthening it.
GC: Did playing in the MTN and Standard Bank Pro20 change the way you play?
EC: Definitely. The standards in South Africa are much more competitive than on the local scene. All the games l played were tough. I really had to work hard and I improved more with each day.
GC: What do you do in your spare time, Elton?
EC: I spend time with my girlfriend, watch movies and cricket.
GC: Who was your source of inspiration as a young boy, playing cricket in the streets of Highfield?
EC: I got the motivation from my coach, who was coaching at Takashinga at the time. I credit my success to him and my family.
GC: Who from the cricket fraternity are you closest to off the field?
EC: Edward Rainsford, Chamu Chibhabha, Prosper Utseya, Hamilton Masakadza – it’s quite a list, mostly because we were together at Churchill.
GC: What is the craziest thing Chigumbura has ever done?
EC: It was when I walked with a lion, side-by-side at Antilog Park in Gweru. I was just 16.
GC: Of all the tours you have had so far, which one did you enjoy most?
EC: West Indies. We first went there for one of our ODI series matches and then for the World Cup last year.
GC: Do you believe Zimbabwe has a future in cricket and why?
EC: Yes, I do believe in a bright future because we are still young and we still have many years of playing ahead of us. We have been exposed to competitive cricket at an early stage in life and by the time we get to our late 20s most of the international players who are dominating would have retired and it will be our time to shine. It’s only a matter of having consistent players playing more games together for five, six years or more, then next we will be dominating world cricket.
GC: What do you think of critics’ notion that ZC Board is run by politicians who care less about the future of cricket in Zimbabwe?
EC: If such thing is happening, it’s unfortunate we don’t have the power to stop it, but we can only leave it to God to judge and take over, then everyone else will benefit.

Factfile

Full name: Elton Chigumbura
Date of birth: 14/03/1986
Place of birth: Kwekwe
Batting style: Right hand bat
Bowling style:Right arm medium
ODI caps: 71
Test caps: 6
Major teams: Zimbabwe, Africa XI, Mashonaland A, Zimbabwe U/19s
Honours: Standard Bank Pro20 Master Blaster Bowler, ICC Champions, man of the Match (England 2004)



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[brmtaylor.com admin]

I like his responses

[Kopje]

Some clever responses, he is one of my fav players to watch.