ZIMBABWE DIARY

Brian Vitori has suddenly become the most talked-about cricketer in Harare.
Hailing from a town 200km south of the Zimbabwe capital, the left-arm paceman's rags-to-riches story brings to mind the numerous tales one comes across in Bangladesh cricket as well.
Sometime ago, Vitori was lurching somewhere in the B teams of his franchise, a time when he couldn't even afford a bowling boot. One day during the off-season, he told his friend and teammate Chimyemgetere Robertson that if he gets one chance, he would never let it go. He went on to lose 10 kilos, got back into the side and became a regular in the Southern Rocks main team.
The story of Sajidul Islam, the left-arm paceman who played a couple of Test matches against New Zealand in 2008 is similar alhough it is likely that Vitori will have a longer career than Sajidul.
The Rangpur-born paceman, not making it to Premier League teams, lost around 15 kilos in the off-season of 2007 and went on to take the most wickets during the following National Cricket League.
If only Sajidul's initial labour had continued into more than just a season, but what happens with Vitori is also worth waiting for.

ANOTHER NEW JERSEY
The Tigers continued their tradition of changing jerseys, this time going for a mainly golden garb.
The reason for the change is sometimes staggering given that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) doesn't even sell replicas of these jerseys for the fans.
The thrill probably lies with the players who get a new lot of clothes almost every other series.

UTSEYA'S CENTURY
Off-spinner Prosper Utseya became the third Zimbabwean to reach a hundred one-day international wickets. His century came up in his 128th game.
The highest wicket-taker is the bowling coach and former skipper Heath Streak, miles ahead with 237 scalps. The team's present batting coach Grant Flower is the other Zimbabwean with 104 wickets.
Among Utseya's current teammates, only Ray Price is close to Utseya with 89 victims.

VITORI'S RECORD
Apart from becoming the first Zimbabwean to take five wickets in an ODI debut, Vitori is the seventh overall and the fifth from his country to take four or more wickets.
The others are Gary Crocker, Everton Matambanandzo, Bryan Strang and Duncan Fletcher, the current coach of India.
The left-arm fast bowler could have been in a finer group with only West Indian Fidel Edwards for company, had Hamilton Masakadza taken the blinder at mid-off when Sohrawardi Shuvo chipped one in the end.
Nonetheless, Vitori also became the second bowler to take a five-wicket haul against the Tigers on debut.
A five-for from someone touted as “ordinary” only a few days ago should be good enough, right?