Streak the juggler turns ringmaster as new acts get top billing

If the pressures and frustrations of captaining England should leave Nasser Hussain feeling sorry for himself at any stage of the next 10 weeks, he should take a trip to the visitors' dressing-room at either Lord's or Chester-le-Street and have a chat with Heath Streak, his Zimbabwean counterpart. Because while leading the England team may be thought of as one of the toughest jobs in sport it would be considered a doddle when compared to the task of captaining Zimbabwe.

Before the World Cup and the dilemma of whether England should play in Zimbabwe, Hussain's concerns would have stretched no further than cricketing matters. For Streak, however, juggling politics and cricket has been a matter requiring daily attention. And even though the Zimbabwe Cricket Union chairman, Peter Chingoka, the coach Geoff Marsh and Streak strongly deny that selection has been influenced by powers above, smoke has too often been seen billowing out of their dressing-room window for this to be truly believed.

During the World Cup, the Zimbabwe squad were torn apart by what was taking place within their country. Andy Flower, their leading player, retired to play cricket for Essex and South Australia, and Henry Olonga, the extrovert fast bowler, was driven out after the pair wore black arm-bands to mourn the "death of democracy" in Zimbabwe. A former captain, Alistair Campbell, has been outspoken on many issues, including the quota system which states the number of black players who have to be included in each match.

There have also been insinuations by former players that Streak is nothing more than a "yes man" to Robert Mugabe and his regime. This is because the captain's family have apparently been given back part of their farm, near Turk Mine in Matabeleland, as part of the expropriation policy which is taking place in Zimbabwe. Such news does not go down particularly well within a team where other players in a similar position have not been afforded the same luxury.

With so much taking place behind the scenes, attempting to bring a group of young cricketers together for a tough tour would seem secondary, but this is the challenge facing Streak and Marsh as they start their tour today against a British Universities XI at Edgbaston.

"It is going to be a challenging tour and I am looking forward to leading a very young and exciting side," Streak said. "There have been voids left by the departure of players like Andy Flower, but we showed in Sharjah, where we beat Sri Lanka and Kenya, that we do have the ability to compete at the highest level. I am confident we will be competitive during the summer series. We have set ourselves high goals, but we are realistic and hope we can leave having achieved and attained some good results.

"We obviously have a new-look Zimbabwe side, but like Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa we have gone through a rebuilding exercise and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead. We hope our young players will realise the opportunities that are available and grab them with both hands."

With a squad of players who in total have scored 366 runs less than Alec Stewart has in his Test career and taken only 76 more wickets than Andrew Caddick, anything but a 2-0 thrashing will be seen as a good tour by Zimbabwe. With eight of the 15-man party aged 22 or under the tourists will be relying heavily on their captain to lead the way.

At 28, Streak's most decisive days with the ball are probably behind him. The heavy workload and the subsequent injuries since his Test debut against Pakistan in 1993-94 have seen to that. In his pomp, during the mid to late 1990's, Streak was a fine bowler as 180 Test wickets at an average of just under 27 indicate.

With a smooth, strong and athletic action the powerfully built fast bowler was capable of swinging the ball away from right-handed batsmen at a lively pace. In the right conditions he could still trouble England's top order but he will be looking for the younger brigade to slowly take over from him.

Andy Blignaut seems the likeliest candidate. At 24, the feisty fast bowler showed promise during the World Cup with his aggressive, hit-the-wicket-hard approach. He may have played in only eight Test matches, but in collecting 29 wickets he has proved he can bowl. Streak and Blignaut will be backed up by Travis Friend, a somewhat erratic fast-bowler, Sean Ervine; a promising all-rounder Mluleki Nkala; and Douglas Hondo who are medium pacers. Nkala toured England in 2000 and had match figures of 5 for 104 in the second Test at Trent Bridge. One of his victims was the England captain.

That Zimbabwe have also selected Vusimuzi Sibanda, an uncapped young quick bowler, suggests they do not feel the pitches at Lord's in May, and Durham in June will turn. If they do, Ray Price and Douglas Marillier may play a more important part than they expect but this is unlikely. Neither will give England's batsmen sleepless nights.

While Streak is the man the visitors look to to take wickets, it will be Grant Flower, the brother of Andy, who will be expected to shore up the batting. Grant and Stuart Carlisle are the only batsmen with any real experience and it is in this department that Zimbabwe could be exposed, especially if the pitches have some assistance in them for England's quick bowlers

In Tatenda Taibu, Dion Ebrahim and Mark Vermeulen Zimbabwe have three young batsmen of promise but the inexperience of the side is summed up by the promotion of Taibu, the 19-year-old wicket-keeper, to the position of vice-captain.