Published: 04/02/2010 20:53:57 | Modified: 04/02/2010 20:58:47
Author: Bruce Talbot | All Contributors
Goodwin resists new Zimbabwe overtures
Murray Goodwin has committed himself to seeing out his contract with Sussex despite overtures from Zimbabwe about resuming his international career.
After seven years in the Test wilderness, Zimbabwe cricket is undergoing something of a revival with a new first-class competition supported by the ICC and the return of former players including David Houghton and Heath Streak to key positions in their coaching set-up.
They hope to be playing Test cricket again in 2012, and Goodwin played in 19 Tests and 71 one-day internationals between 1997 and 2000, top-scoring with 166 against Pakistan in Bulawayo in 1998.
A tentative approach to Goodwin was made last summer but the 37-year-old heard nothing until the story re-surfaced this week as Zimbabwe prepared to name their squad for the forthcoming one-day series in West Indies.
Goodwin is currently in Perth, Western Australia, after completing a successful benefit with Sussex in December. He has been in contact with Sussex coach Mark Robinson this week to reassure him that he will be at Hove for the start of his tenth season with the county next month.
Robinson said: “There was some contact with Zimbabwe last summer but Murray heard nothing and was shocked as much as anything to hear that it was back on the agenda.
“It would have to tick an awful lot of boxes for Murray to go back to international cricket. He would no longer be able to play county cricket, which means giving up Sussex, and he would have to uproot his family to Zimbabwe.”
Goodwin endured his worst season since joining Sussex in 2000 last year, despite breaking his own record for the county’s highest score when he made an unbeaten 344 against Somerset at Taunton in August.
He averaged 33.33 and failed to pass 1,000 first-class runs for only the second time, although his one-day form was consistent and he was a mainstay of Sussex’s double-winning team in limited-overs competitions.
But, freed of the burden of running a benefit during the worst recession since the 1930s, he is confident of rediscovering his form and earning a new contract when his current deal expires at the end of the 2010 season.