An excellent county seamer
By Tinashe Kusema
ENGLISH paceman Christopher Sliverwood always ties his left boot before the right prior to a game, and on the pitch slowly turns to his left, after a delivery, when going back for his run-up.
Add that to the fact that he answers to the name Spoons or Chubby and you have one of the most fascinating characters in the domestic cricket league today.
“I don’t really know why I do the things I do,” boldly asserts the 34-year-old Mashonaland Eagles gaffer.
“I am not superstitious or anything like that, but just a very particular person who has devised a routine of how to do things. Like any other athlete, I think it’s just my way of zoning out to concentrate on the task at hand which is either to play a good game or simply map out the next ball I am going to bowl.
“The only time I remember diverting from those routines, which also include staying clean and giving 100 percent during practice, is when I lost a loved one and got divorced.”
As for the nickname, Silverwood said: “It’s a rather boring story, but the long and short of it is that a bigger and stronger person gave it to me and it kind of stuck to me.”
Born March 5, 1975 in Kippax, England, Silverwood is an excellent county seamer, largely known for having an unnerving bouncer that zeroes in on the batsman’s head.
A product of Yorkshire Academy, he broke into England county cricket at the tender age of 18 and went on to make his international debut in 1996 against Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club.
Despite impressing in his first game, he spent the next three years in the trenches, before he got his second crack at international cricket, which came against South Africa.
“I think the South Africa tour largely cemented my place as a quality seamer, where I had the chance to come up against one of my idols, Allan Donald.
“I also managed to get my first five-wicket haul and after that game Donald came to me and congratulated me, which till today is one of the best moments of my career,” said the gaffer.
Despite having over a decade worth of experience, he would spend most of his international career as a 12th man, only starring in six Tests, taking 11 wickets.
His biggest accomplishment came in the 2002 Ashes series against Australia which, ironically, brought his international career to a screeching halt.
“The Ashes series is like a dream come true for any Australian or English cricketer, but for me it was a nightmare, as my first series disturbed my career after I broke my ankle on the first ball of the last Test in Perth.
“Up until now I’m still to feature for England despite the fact I have been playing county cricket,” said Silverwood.
Now 13 years have passed, since his debut Test, and his flirtation with Zimbabwe seems to have come full circle following his recent appointment as the Mashonaland Eagles new coach.
With the appointment, the 34-year-old has inherited the franchise system’s youngest crop of players which, despite its abundance in talent, is still rough around the edges.
With an average age of 22, the Eagles have only a handful of experienced players in Raymond Price, Elton Chigumbura and Barney Rogers, to name but a few.
In teenage spin sensation Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Malcolm Jarvis, Admire Manyumwa, Gumunyu Manatsa and Cephas Zhuwao, the stable has some of the fastest rising stars in the local game.
The Englishman seems up to the challenge, promising to bring glory to both the Eagles franchise and Zimbabwe’s cricket as a whole.
“Prior to my actual appointment, I had been in talks with the franchise for a couple of months, during which I began to follow the country’s cricket and I was impressed.
“Eagles is ripe with an abundance of talent and I have set out to fine-tune the guys so they get into the right track.
“We are a family here as we practise, win and lose together, and we aim to be crowned champions by the end of the season,” said the gaffer.
He has already got off in the right direction, transforming Eagles, who got off to a shaky start in the Logan Cup, into a cohesive unit able to make a clean sweep of domestic competitions.
Since his appointment, the gaffer has been on a roll and is currently on a three-match winning streak, after claiming the scalps of Southern Rocks, Tuskers and pre-tournament favourites Mountaineers.
Although they beat a weakened Mountaineers, most of whose players were on international duty, the Eagles were equally affected as their key players were also absent.
With only two matches left before the Christmas break, Eagles are firmly perched at the summit of the log standings.