The Good Murungu

Book excerpt: Former county cricketer and one-time England Test batsman Alan Butcher was looking for a new challenge after leaving his job coaching Surrey County Cricket Club. A phone call out of the blue from a Zimbabwean great alerted him to the possibility of coaching the nation's cricket team. His three years in charge presents an insight into the at times schizophrenic nature of cricket in this intriguing country. Starting at the point when Butcher was offered the job, he describes the process of molding a team out of a dispirited and disillusioned group of players. Part cricket memoir, part travelogue, part ode to Zimbabwe, part lament for a beautiful-but-troubled country, The Good Murungu? is a fascinating insight into Zimbabwean cricket.