pulled Inter back into the game with a goal in the 71st, bu

Prince Masvaure did not enjoy fitness tests until about a week ago. By his own admission, the batting allrounder is carrying a few extra kilograms, and he was dropped by the Mashonaland franchise for that exact reason - but this time he had reason to run a little faster by the time the stopwatch started.I saw Hamilton Masakadza in the car park when I got to the ground, Masvaure said. He came up to me and said, Congratulations on making the Test side. I asked, Oh really, did I? Because I didnt get a call or anything. And he said, Yes, you made it, it was announced this afternoon. I couldnt believe that after so many years of hard work, it was actually happening.Masvaures cricket journey began with baseball. He was the junior school vice-captain and slugger, capable of hitting the ball a long way. When the fifth-grade team cricket team found themselves a player short, they asked him to fill in. From there, I just fell in love with the game, he remembered.And he was good at it too. He earned a scholarship to Churchill Boys High, the same institution that schooled Tatenda Taibu, Hamilton Masakadza, Douglas Hondo and Prosper Utseya. He played cricket in the summer and rugby in the winter. He was a batting allrounder, and alternated between centre and fly half, and was also a lot smaller than I am now.In 2003 he made the Zimbabwe Under-16 side and toured Namibia. That was my first time on a plane, he said. I just realised, if I keep on working hard, I can go somewhere.The next year Masvaure was selected for Zimbabwes U-19 side, the youngest player alongside Gary Ballance. He represented the team in four successive years, including at two junior World Cups: at the 2006 tournament he played just one match and did not bat, but in 2008 he was the captain. It was not a great outing for either Masvaure, who scored 39 runs at 6.50, or the team, which lost all six matches, but it gave them an idea of how tough international cricket was going to be.Masvaure came up against a New Zealand side captained by Kane Williamson in the opening match. While Williamson would go on to rise through the ranks, Masvaure battled his way (and his weight) to get ahead.In the first season of Zimbabwes franchise system, the 2009-10 summer, Masvaure was contracted to Mashonaland. He was not among their outstanding performers but he held down a regular place. Then, I got dropped because of my fitness.That forced him to move to Masvingo, where he played for Southern Rocks but struggled. In his first season there, he averaged 10.66 and considered giving up cricket altogether. I didnt have a good season, and at the same time, things with Zimbabwe Cricket were going up and down. Maybe I didnt do myself any favours since I couldnt get selected in teams because of my fitness. I thought I was pushing hard but people told me the same thing: that I could play well but I needed to improve on my fitness. So eventually I thought of trying something else instead, like maybe pursuing my education.Instead of the books, Masvaure eventually turned to farming and tried to grow Zimbabwes largest cash crop, tobacco. It was extremely hard, because with farming you need to be there 24/7, he said. And I also found that with doing other things, I was not putting as much time into cricket. I needed to do something that could actually make me earn a living. It was difficult to balance the two.Eventually several senior players convinced Masvaure that he had what it took to make it and persuaded him to make another move, to the Kwe-Kwe based Mid-West Rhinos. It paid off.In the 2014-15 season, Masvaure finished sixth on the Logan Cup batting charts, with 472 runs at 33.71, which included five fifties. He did not manage to follow that up with a strong 2015-16, but word had spread that he had promise. With Zimbabwe struggling for depth, especially in the batting department, after the retirement of Brendan Taylor, Masvaure was included in Zimbabwes A side to play South Africa A last month.For the first time since his U-19 days, he would face international bowlers like Vernon Philander. To ready himself for the challenge, Masvaure turned to religion.I am someone who believes in Jesus Christ. Just reading the Bible and knowing about Gods work gave me so much faith and belief in myself, he said. I told myself that if this is what happened, if Jesus did this and that, why can I not do the same thing? I told myself, I need to back myself, I need to believe I can do it before I go out there. The main thing that happened is that I believed I will make it before I even started playing the games.Getting players into the right mindset has been a problem for Zimbabwe, but Masvaure has showed what can happen when they are. He scored an unbeaten 88 in the first game and 146 in the second, against an attack that included Test bowlers Philander and Dane Piedt and promising quicks Andile Phehlukwayo, Sisanda Magala and Duanne Olivier.Those guys are world-class bowlers. I respect them a lot but what I told myself is that these guys are there to get me out and I am there to score runs, so if I try to play the names, its going to be hard. I tried to brush that off my mind and I said, let me just play the ball as it is. And then I scored against them, Masvaure said.Ten days after that, he was told he would have the opportunity to repeat the feat at the highest level, against New Zealand. Masvaure found out he would receive his Test cap the night before the first match, and admitted he was overawed. I tried to tell myself I am all right but I kept on breathing heavily. I had a lot of nerves. To be honest, I was scared, he said. But when we went out there and I received the cap, I was so emotional. And then when they sang the national anthem, I felt I was all right, I was ready for it, I was ready to give it a go.He had to be, because by the time he was called on, to bat in an unfamiliar position, No. 7, with the score at 72 for 5, Zimbabwe were in a precarious position. Before Masvaure had faced a ball, they lost three more wickets at the same score. He would have been forgiven if he had perished without adding to the total, but he remembered what had served him so well against South Africa A and tried to repeat it.It felt a bit different because when I went out there, I had to face spin first, whereas I am used to facing seam. I just had to adjust and get on with it, he said. I was very disappointed as well, because I know the guys were very good cricketers and what we displayed out there wasnt the way I have seen most of the guys play. It felt like this is not how we should be playing our cricket. We are better than that. I was disappointed. Everyone was getting out to the same delivery. That frustrated me a little bit. Masvaure saw off Neil Wagners short-ball spell and posted an 85-run stand with No. 10 batsman Donald Tiripano, to save his side some blushes.Zimbabwe cricket is in a state where people are saying cricket is dead, Masvaure says. My goal is to try and see if I can perform consistently so that people can recognise that there is still something in Zimbabwe cricket, to bring back the hope we used to have, that we can put up a good fight and try to win, not just to compete. Its something that really hurts me when you get to hear some of the comments people pass on from other countries. Its something that really touches me.He knows he needs to work on his fitness as much as on his batting. With Makhaya Ntini calling the shots as coach, Masvaure has taken up running, although he is still a little unsure how he will sustain that when he gets home. Maybe its because of my family. Everyone in my family is quite big. If I tell them I am running, you never know what they will think, he laughed.I have lost a bit of weight, thats what people say, but if I look at it, I feel the same. I still feel I need to lose more weight and that there is more work to be done. I am working hard on it. I feel I shouldnt look the way I do. But he knows he should keep playing cricket the way he does. Curry 2 Low For Sale . Jane Virtanen scored two, and Alex Roach and Elliott Peterson rounded out the offence for the Hitmen (40-15-6). Brady Brassart chipped in with three assists. Colton McCarthy scored twice, Brayden Point had a goal and two assists, and Jack Rodewald also scored for the Warriors (15-35-9), who were 2 for 5 on the power play. Curry 3 Shoes For Sale . -- Yogi Ferrell orchestrates pretty much everything in Indianas offence. http://www.curryshoesclearance.com/steph-curry-5-shoes.html . -- Tony Stewart is 20 pounds lighter and has a titanium rod in his surgically repaired right leg. Curry 6 Wholesale . Despite dominating possession, Schalke needed an own goal from Nicolas Hoefler for the breakthrough a minute before the interval. The Freiburg midfielder misjudged Jefferson Farfans corner and bundled the ball into his own net. Ua Curry 1 Wholesale . Capitals head coach Adam Oates said Ovechkin was injured in the first period against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday and clarified it was not a head injury. MADRID -- Wayne Rooney finally made a difference for Manchester United this season, setting up Zlatan Ibrahimovics goal two minutes after being summoned off the bench to help them beat Ukraines Zorya Luhansk 1-0 in the Europa League on Thursday.Inter Milan fell 3-1 at Sparta Prague to lose its second in a row in the European competition, while Mario Balotelli scored again but couldnt prevent Nice from losing at Russian side Krasnodar 5-2. The Italian striker was substituted at halftime with an apparent knee injury.There was mixed reaction at Old Trafford when Jose Mourinho sent in the much-criticized Rooney in the 67th minute, but his misfired shot bounced to the far post, where Ibrahimovic nodded in.Rooney was in good position inside the area after a cross from the right flank, but the ball hit off his knee as he attempted a shot, going across the area toward Ibrahimovic.We deserved to win but it was difficult, Mourinho said. They were very well organized defensively as we expected. We had to play, I wont say amazingly well because we didnt, but we had to play well to win.Mourinho didnt start Rooney after saying he wanted to protect his captain from a media backlash if he had another poor performance.It was a crucial win for United, which was coming off a 1-0 loss at Feyenoord in its Europa League opener. The English side moved off the bottom of Group A. Turkeys Fenerbahce, which defeated Feyenoord 1-0 at home, led by a point after two matches.United controlled possession against Zorya but created very few scoring chances, with the best early on when Marcus Rashford struck the crossbar.SPARTA 3, INTER 1Inter Milans opening loss to Hapoel Beer-Sheva became less shocking when it fell at Sparta Prague and dropped to last in Group K.A three-time champion, Inter has lost four straight in European competitions. It arrived boosted by a comme-from-behind win over Juventus in Serie A, but produced another poor performance in European competition at Generali Arena.dddddddddddde werent focused, Inter coach Frank de Boer said. We made too many mistakes, giving easy balls to our opponents. We need to get a lot better in that regard, otherwise were going to find every match very difficult.Forward Vaclav Kadlec scored twice in the first half for Sparta, which moved to second place in the group. Hapoel and Southampton, which drew 0-0 in Israel, lead by one point. Inter has yet to earn a point.Striker Rodrigo Palacio pulled Inter back into the game with a goal in the 71st, but defender Mario Holek sealed the victory for the hosts just a minute after Inter defender Andrea Ranocchia was sent off in the 75th for a second yellow card.KRASNODAR 5, NICE 2Balotelli scored but Nice lost at Russian side Krasnodar in Group I. To make things worse, the Italian forward was substituted at halftime, apparently because of a knock to his knee while scoring his fifth goal in four games.Brazilian forwards Joaozinho and Ari scored two goals each for Krasnodar, which leads the group with Schalke. The German team beat Salzburg 3-1.OTHER ACTIONGroup G leader Ajax defeated Standard Liege 1-0 to end a run of five consecutive home draws in Europe, while 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk topped Braga 2-0 in Group H. Fiorentina routed Azerbaijans Qarabag 5-1 with three goals in eight minutes just before halftime, including a pair by Senegalese striker Khouma Babacar, and Steaua Bucharest and Villarreal exchanged first-half goals in a 1-1 draw in Romania in Group L.---Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/tales-azzoni ' ' '