______________________________ ______________________________ ______________

Murray William Goodwin

Murray Goodwin Photo Copyright AFP

Murray William Goodwin moved from Zimbabwe to Australia when he was only 13 years old. In a few years time he established himself as a force to reckon with in youth cricket in Western Australia. Playing along with Ricky Ponting, Goodwin attended the Australian Cricket Academy as a member of the national under-19 team.

Later Goodwin moved back to Zimbabwe to further his chances of making it big in international cricket. On moving to Zimbabwe, Goodwin was immediately successful, scoring a hundred in just his second One-Day International. Since Goodwin played cricket on the pacy wickets of Western Australia during his formative years, Goodwin is an extremely good player off the back foot. Goodwin cuts and pulls the ball with ferocious power. The fact that his technique is compact ensures that he gets into position very early to play the horizontal bat shots. Off the front foot, Goodwin is comfortable hitting through the line of the ball. Unafraid to loft the ball, Goodwin can be a dangerous customer when the field is inside the circle.

Added to his abilities as a batsman, Goodwin can be used as a partnership breaker. Goodwin usually bowls very controlled medium pacers. His action allows the ball to swing and he is an underrated bowler. When required, Goodwin can also bowl flighted leg-breaks. In short, Goodwin is the kind of cricketer who is always striving hard to be a complete cricketer.

Goodwin is easily the most exciting batting talent to emerge from Zimbabwe in recent times.