EXCLUSIVE: Jarvis on choosing Lancashire over Zimbabwe honours

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Kyle Jarvis has taken an impressive 34 wickets in six matches for Lancashire Cricket Club.

    Almost two years since quitting international competition to pursue a career in English county cricket, former Zimbabwe fast bowler Kyle Jarvis has no regrets – but hasn’t forsaken his heritage entirely.

    With Zimbabwe Cricket’s contentious pay disputes a deterrent of the past and job security and satisfaction at Lancashire evidenced this season, Jarvis has risen to the fore of the County Championship’s Division Two wicket-taking ranks. 

    A resounding 34 victims in six fixtures has the talented 26-year-old stretches ahead of any other county seamer with international experience, including Australia and Leicestershire’s Clint McKay and South Africa and Northamptonshire’s Rory Kleinveldt.

    “At the time, leaving Zimbabwe was definitely the right decision and it remains the right decision. My future is in county cricket. I have not thought twice about it since, it was certainly the right way to go. I knew I was going to be there and thereabouts in county cricket,” Jarvis told Sport360.

    “It’s no secret that I struggled with injuries last season and just didn’t get going. I started my pre-season pretty well this time around. [Lancashire cricket director and head coach] Ashley Giles and [former captain] Glenn Chappell have showed a lot of faith in me and I’ve just gone on from there. 

    Jarvis' countryman Brendan Taylor has shown fine form for Nottinghamshire.

    “At the start of the season, I shared the new ball with [Australia fast bowler] Peter Siddle. Tom Bailey, too, has done really well. We complement each other well – and then there is the solid role of spinner Simon Kerrigan. 

    “My working relationship with Siddle was great. He was around for the first four games or so. He is a very knowledgeable guy. He helped me a lot. He was good to play with, good to train alongside.”

    Fellow Zimbabwean Brendan Taylor has gathered two centuries for Nottinghamshire in Division One this year. A lack of consistency, though, has his average under 40 – and Notts dangerously close to the foot of the standings. Taylor and Jarvis are effectively continuing the legacy of Murray Goodwin and Sean Ervine – two other Zimbabweans historically associated with county cricket. Lancashire stalwart Ashwell Prince is ostensibly doing the same on the behalf of former South African cricketers in England. 

    “Brendan and I are good friends. I always follow his performances. He is doing well enough and hopefully we can keep doing the same for years to come. Our schedules are quite hectic, but I spent the night at his place in Nottingham not so long ago,” added Jarvis.

    “Ashwell played a lot of Test cricket. He is 38 years old and is having the season of his career. He scored a double century against Derbyshire recently – and is the leading run-scorer across both divisions of the County Championship this year. He is massively experienced and great to learn from.”

    The Zimbabwean seam attack, meanwhile, has evolved considerably since Jarvis’ departure in August 2013. Former new-ball partners Keegan Meth and Chris Mpofu have been sidelined for reasons vast and varied, while Brian Vitori and Tinashe Panyangara are currently spearheading the attack. Their most recent ODI and T20I tour, which saw Zimbabwe end a six-year absence of international cricket in Pakistan, despite ongoing security threats and Saturday’s suicide bombing, was a particularly challenging period for Panyangara and company.

    “Tendai Chatara is a big prospect, but is injured and out for a few months. Vitori is a really good left-arm bowler and Panyangara has come back well after not playing international cricket for a couple of years. They’ve got a good pace attack that just needs a bit more experience, particularly with closing out games at the back end,” insisted Jarvis.

    “In terms of the decision to tour Pakistan, even though no other team has since 2009, I don’t think they would have gone if it was not safe. They have been fine on the tour, even though they have not been winning. If everyone was going, and it was deemed to be safe, I would have also gone with, were I still playing for them.”

    Jarvis’ focus, though, remains firmly fixed on Lancashire’s 2015 campaign – including eventual participation in the T20 Blast. This day and age of professional cricket, typified by quick turnarounds between fixtures and taxing workloads for fast bowlers, has seen Jarvis handled with the utmost of care by Giles and Chappell. His successful exploits with the ball, which have pushed Lancashire to the helm of the Division Two table, will soon be unleashed in the shortest format too.

    “I would like to be a part of the T20 Blast and I’m sure I will be later in the season. For the first part of the season, or the first nine weeks at least, I will have been involved in nine Championship games – and that’s a lot of overs. The plan was for me not to be involved in the T20 side of things at the start of the season and just keep momentum with red ball cricket. We’ve got good bowlers in the T20 side that are missing out on first-class selection, so there is a good balance of the workload there,” he concluded.

    Jonhenry Wilson is a cricket writer for ESPN Cricinfo, Wisden India, SA Cricket magazine and Cricket365, among others.

    Recommended