Ok, so the above example of an “Extreme Braai” would probably not make it into everyone’s top 10, but what does make the best braai? There are probably as many answers to this question as there are opinions as to the best way to make boerewors.

I know that there will be many of you that swear by your 44 gallon drum, cut in half to make a braai, or that your gas skottel braai is the best and yes I too love my parents half drum braai back home in Zim and the skottel has to be one of the best gas braai’s especially for breakfast fry-ups, but what is that saying: “when in Rome do as the Romans do”, and in my case it was more of “when in the UK” and here drums and skottel’s can be hard to find (although not impossible).

Weber Charcoal Barbecue

I have had my Original Weber charcoal barbeque for over 5 years now and still use it and in my opinion they must be one of the best charcoal braai equipment that you can get and here is why:

Flexibility
You can just use the grill to cook old favourites like boerewors and steak, but then use the cover and a whole new world opens up. I have cooked many fantastic roasts on the Weber and there are many in the southern hemisphere, that them to cook their Christmas turkey.

Durability
As you may have heard the UK weather is not the best! Yet I have left my Weber outdoors with no cover on every summer, only taking it into the shed in the winter and yet there is still almost no sign of rusting. I am still using the original grill and everything still works 100%, so whilst you can get cheaper imitations, I would recommend against it unless you only need it to last for a single summer.

Portability
Some people swear by their brick braai and yes, they can look and work great, but just make sure it is located in a good spot. I like the fact that I can move the Weber, following the sun throughout the day, which is very important here in the UK!

Where to Buy Weber Braai’s

Amazon have a huge selection of Weber Barbecues and Accesories both in the US and the UK:

UK: Amazon.co.uk
Weber on Amazon.co.uk

USA: Amazon.com

Weber on Amazon.com

Your Opinion

I would love to get your opinion and photos of your favourite braai, just leave comments below or contact me.

More Information

• Braai Recipes
• Make your own Boerewors
• The Main photo in this article is of the “Extreme Braai” – the multi functional braai, made from recycled metal found on the scrap metal yard, carefully put together to make everything functional!

Ogh and before I forget, a BBQ/Barbecue should be something you wait in line for to get your hair cut and has nothing to do with cooking great food outdoors

Buy Boerewors on Amazon!
If you do not have access to a local butchery that makes boerewors, you can now buy it online on Amazon both here in the UK and in the US:

Boerewors for Sale On-Line

As with pretty much everything these days you can now buy your favourite braai meat online both here in the UK and in the US:

UK
Boerewors on Amazon.co.uk

USA

Boerewors on Amazon.com

Stephen Muzhingi has won the Comrades Marathon for the second time, he overtook Claude Moshiywa and kept his four minute lead from about 20km from the finish line.

The world’s greatest ultra-marathon, 90 kilometres long, the Comrades is a South African institution, internationally recognised for the body-sapping challenge it poses and the camaraderie it fosters among its thousands of participants.

The Comrades is run between the capital of the Kwazulu-Natal province, Pietermaritzburg and the coastal city of Durban, the race alternates annually between the “up run” from Durban and the “down run” from Pietermaritzburg.

Stephen Muzhingi
Last year, Stephen Muzhingi became the first Zimbabwean winner of the Comrades Marathon in 2009 in the second fastest time ever recorded: five hours, 23 minutes and 27 seconds. Shvetsov, going for his third win in succession, was struck by cramps nine kilometres from the finish and had to settle for second.

His real breakthrough came in 2007 when Stephen placed seventh in the Comrades and ever since then he has been focusing on improving his times. In 2009 before his comrades win, he came fourth in the Two Oceans Marathon with a time of three hours eleven minutes. The Durban based Zimbabwean, said that in 2009 he would be sending a portion of his prize money home to his family in Zimbabwe.

History
Vic Clapham, a First World War veteran came up with the idea for the Comrades as he wanted a living memorial to those South African soldiers killed in the war. Clapham, who had endured a 2 700-kilometre route march through sweltering German East Africa, wanted the memorial to be a unique test of the physical endurance of the entrants.

Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza and Craig Ervine helped Zimbabwe clinch an excellent six-wicket victory over India in the first game of the Tri-Nations series in Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe won at a gallop with 10 balls and six wickets to spare in the first of two matches between them in a series which also includes Sri Lanka.

All of Zimbabwe’s to 6 batsmen, led by man of the match Brendan Taylor, contributed significantly towards the victory as they overtook a good Indian total of 285-5 to record an impressive 289-4 in reply. The home team performed with skill and a certain amount of confidence, setting about their task of overtaking the Indian effort in both workmanlike and spectacular manner, as varying situations demanded.

Earlier on in the day during India’s innings, Rohit Sharma smacked four sixes in 114 from 119 balls and Ravindra Jadeja added an unbeaten 61 in India’s 285-5. The one blot on Zimbabwe’s day was the bowling performance of new captain Elton Chigumbura, who contrived to give away no fewer than 20 wides in his two overs – something for the Guinness Book of Records if they had such a category! Chigumbura said afterwards he had problems with his technique but he praised his colleagues for their “superb overall performance.”

But Hamilton Masakadza (46) and Taylor (81) gave Zimbabwe an excellent start by putting on 88 for the first wicket. Ervine smashed an unbeaten 67 and captain Elton Chigumbura weighed in with 24 not out as the hosts powered home with 10 balls to spare.

“Hami [Masakadza] and BT [Brendan Taylor] put us on top with their first-wicket partnership,” Chigumbura said. “It was also good to see Craig score a half century on his debut. The guys did well. The main focus now is to be consistent and we are working on that at the moment.”

India captain Suresh Raina praised Zimbabwe but blamed the defeat on his team’s inexperience.
He said: “They batted really well, to be honest. They deserved to win. “Some of the team have never played at this level. However we should have been able to defend 285 runs.

The next match in the series is on Sunday May 30th and sees India take on Sri Lanka at Queens Sports Club, whilst Zimbabwe’s next match is on Tuesday June 1st against Sri Lanka also at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.

For Full Match fixtures and how you can watch the games live: Zimbabwe Cricket Tri-Series

Selected Match Statistics:

• Zimbabwe have registered their ninth triumph against India in 50 ODIs (Lost 39 and Tied 2) – winning % 20.00
• Craig Ervine’s unbeaten 67 off 60 balls is the best innings score on debut for Zimbabwe against India in ODIs.
• Ervine’s innings of 67 is the fourth best on debut for Zimbabwe in limited-overs internationals.
• Greg Lamb (27) has recorded his best ever innings in ODIs, bettering the 23 against West Indies at Providence on March 6, 2010.
• Zimbabwe’s convincing six-wicket win is their third in eleven ODIs against India in Zimbabwe.
• Brendan Taylor (81) has recorded the second highest innings by a wicketkeeper for Zimbabwe against India in ODIs. Andy Flower had registered 145 at Colombo RPS on September 14, 2002.

Zimbabwe Cricket Books

Amazon, have a bunch of Zim related cricket books, including "Blood, Sweat And Treason" by Henry Olonga, “A History of the Rhodesia and Zimbabwe National Sides” by Jonty Winch who traces the history of cricket in this country (Zimbabwe) from the first recorded game played in 1890, through two World Wars and a guerilla war, to the comparative peace of post-independence and eventual world recognition in the 1980s when Zimbabwe was able to send a side to England to take part in the I.C.C. Trophy competition which it won.

There is also the Autobiography of another great Zimbabwean cricket coach Duncan Fletcher “Behind the Shades”

USA: Amazon.com

Zimbabwe Cricket on Amazon.com

At the moment Amazon UK don’t have as wide selection as the US site, but I have ordered books from the US and had them delivered to the UK with no problems.

UK: Amazon.co.uk
Zimbabwe Cricket on Amazon.co.uk

ZIMBABWE returns to major international cricket at home as a Tri-Series with India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe begins today, however what is disappointing is that both Sri Lanka and India a resting some of their key players.

The series was organised after New Zealand cancelled their tour of Zimbabwe for the second time, basing their decision on insecurity and preferring to play at a neutral venue.

The triangular will be played from May 26 to June 14 with games played at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo and at Harare Sports Club in Harare.

The series will be new coach Allan Butcher’s first home assignment since his appointment in late February.

Watch Zimbabwe v India live stream online

If you are looking to watch the games live on-line, I have found that this can be done via BetFair of all places!

All you have to do is open an account with Betfair and you can watch this and many other live sporting events including most of the games in this tri tournament. The best bit of all it is FREE – I have just done it myself and you don’t even have to deposit any money into your account – just create an account, log in and then look for the Zimbabwe game under Sports/Cricket and click the Watch Sport Free on Bet Fair Live Video link on the right.

Click here to go to betfair.com and watch Zimbabwe cricket live.

Zimbabwe News
The major Zimbabwe news before the tournament was that Prosper Utseya resigned as captain of Zimbabwe, handing over a formal resignation letter following a meeting with the managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket. His replacement in the position is allrounder Elton Chigumbura.

Zimbabwe (possible team) 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Charles Coventry, 4 Brendan Taylor, 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Elton Chigumbura (capt.), 7 Andy Blignaut, 8 Greg Lamb, 9 Graeme Cremer/Prosper Utseya, 10 Chris Mpofu, 11 Ray Price.

Sri Lanka
Tillakaratne Dilshan will lead Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe in the absence of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, both of whom have been rested.

Sri Lanka squad: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Chamara Kapugedera, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Chamara Silva, Thissira Perera.

India
Suresh Raina will lead a second-string India squad for the ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe and the Twenty20s which follow, with Virat Kohli as his deputy. Among the first-choice players who are either rested or injured are regular captain MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Praveen Kumar.

India Squad: M Vijay, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suresh Raina (capt), Virat Kohli (vice-capt), Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Pankaj Singh, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Naman Ojha and Piyush Chawla will join the squad for the Twenty20s.

Tri-Series Fixtures:

• May 28 – Zimbabwe v India Queens Sports Club
• May 30 – India v Sri Lanka Queens Sports Club
• June 1 – Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka Queens Sports Club
• June 1 – India travel to Harare
• June 2 – Sri Lanka travel to Harare
• June 3 – Zimbabwe v India Harare Sports Club
• June 5 – India v Sri Lanka Harare Sports Club
• June 6 – Rest/Practice
• June 7 – Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka Harare Sports Club
• June 9 – Final Harare Sports Club
• June 10 – Sri Lanka depart Zimbabwe
• June 12 – Zimbabwe v India – 1st Twenty20 match Harare Sports Club
• June 13 – Zimbabwe v India – 2nd Twenty20 match Harare Sports Club

Chirundu.com would like to wish Athanasios John Traicos a happy birthday. He was born today (17 May) in 1947 in Zagazig, Egypt.

A former Zimbabwean cricketer who played in Zimbabwe’s first test match and also represented South Africa at international level. He was primarily an off spin bowler, and is one of a small number of cricketers to have played at the highest level for more than one country.

Whilst Traicos was born in Egypt, he grew up in Rhodesia (Now Zimbabwe) and played when Rhodesia was regarded as a “province” within the South African domestic cricket setup.

His father Tryphon Traicos was born in Lemnos (Greece) in 1900 and at the age of 12 he was sent to Egypt to work in his uncle’s business. A year after John was born the Traicos family migrated to Fort Victoria (now Masvingo) in Southern Rhodesia in September 1948. This obviously produced a major shift in their cultural influence and it was out with the tavli and in with the cricket.

Traicos started playing cricket, inspired by his cousin Peter and coached by Neil Jardine, a former rugby international and then at Natal University by the great South African all-rounder Trevor Goddard.

His progress as an off-spinner was rapid. He was selected for the South African Universities tour of England in 1967 and then made his first-class debut for Rhodesia against Transvaal B in Salisbury the following year.

South African Test Player
John Traicos made his Test match debut for the South African cricket team against Australia at Durban in February 1970.

There are many people who know a thing or two about cricket say that the South African side which destroyed Australia 4-0 in the 1969/1970 series was one of the finest of all-time. Great players included Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock, Eddie Barlow, Ali Bacher, Peter Pollock, Lee Irvine and Mike Procter.

Unfortunately for John, not long after his debut, South Africa were banned from international cricket because of the apartheid regime and this meant the end of his international career until 1980 when Rhodesia became Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean Cricketer
Traicos continued to play for Zimbabwe after the country gained its independence, and appeared for them in the 1982, 1986 and 1990 ICC Trophy tournaments. He also represented Zimbabwe in the 1983 Cricket World Cup, and was an important part of the side which inflicted a shock defeat on Australia.

Zimbabwe were raised to Test status in 1992, and Traicos was selected for the country’s inaugural Test match which took place in Harare at the Harare Sports Club against India. So at the age of 45 years and 304 days, Traicos returned to Test cricket and he finished with great bowling figures of 5-86, his victims including Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharuddin and Kapil Dev.

The John Traicos File

• Born: 17 May 1947 in Zagazig, Egypt
• Tests: 7 in total,  3 for South Africa (1970) and 4 for Zimbabwe (1992-3)
• Bowling: 18 wickets (avge 42.72)
• Best: 5-86 v India, Harare 1993
• ODIs: 27 for Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Cricket Books

Amazon, have a bunch of Zim related cricket books, including "Blood, Sweat And Treason" by Henry Olonga, “A History of the Rhodesia and Zimbabwe National Sides” by Jonty Winch who traces the history of cricket in this country (Zimbabwe) from the first recorded game played in 1890, through two World Wars and a guerilla war, to the comparative peace of post-independence and eventual world recognition in the 1980s when Zimbabwe was able to send a side to England to take part in the I.C.C. Trophy competition which it won.

There is also the Autobiography of another great Zimbabwean cricket coach Duncan Fletcher “Behind the Shades”

USA: Amazon.com

Zimbabwe Cricket on Amazon.com

At the moment Amazon UK don’t have as wide selection as the US site, but I have ordered books from the US and had them delivered to the UK with no problems.

UK: Amazon.co.uk
Zimbabwe Cricket on Amazon.co.uk

Chirundu.com would like to wish Iain Peter Butchart a happy birthday as he was born today (9 May) in 1960 in Bulawayo

Iain Butchart played one Test for Zimbabwe against Pakistan in Harare at the age of 35 and was one of the key figures in the years immediately before Zimbabwe gained Test status. He also played in 20 One Day Internationals spread over twelve years for Zimbabwe.

He was an all-round player, a right-handed batsman and an often used medium pacer where he bowled more than 13 overs a match during his first class career.

In the one-day internationals his best batting performance was 54 off 70 balls against New Zealand at the 1987 World Cup, which took Zimbabwe from 104 for 7 to 221 for 8 chasing a total of 243 to win. But with four to get and three balls remaining, Butchart was run out, and New Zealand won by 3 runs. His best bowling figures were 3 for 57 – Aamer Sohail for 114, Inzamam-ul-Haq for 14 and Javed Miandad for 89 in a 53-run loss to Pakistan at the 1992 World Cup.

He also played in 9 matches in the ICC Trophy for Zimbabwe where he made 57 runs without being dismissed and taking 14 wickets, including four for 33 against Netherlands in the 1986 final, which Zimbabwe won by 25 runs.

After his playing days were over, he went on to coach the Zimbabwe Under-19 side.

Facts:

• Full name Iain Peter Butchart
• Born May 9, 1960, Bulawayo
• Major teams Zimbabwe, Mashonaland Country Districts
• Batting style Right-hand bat
• Bowling style Right-arm medium
• Education Plumtree School

Zimbabwe Cricket Books

Amazon, have a bunch of Zim related cricket books, including "Blood, Sweat And Treason" by Henry Olonga, “A History of the Rhodesia and Zimbabwe National Sides” by Jonty Winch who traces the history of cricket in this country (Zimbabwe) from the first recorded game played in 1890, through two World Wars and a guerilla war, to the comparative peace of post-independence and eventual world recognition in the 1980s when Zimbabwe was able to send a side to England to take part in the I.C.C. Trophy competition which it won.

There is also the Autobiography of another great Zimbabwean cricket coach Duncan Fletcher “Behind the Shades”

USA: Amazon.com

Zimbabwe Cricket on Amazon.com

At the moment Amazon UK don’t have as wide selection as the US site, but I have ordered books from the US and had them delivered to the UK with no problems.

UK: Amazon.co.uk
Zimbabwe Cricket on Amazon.co.uk