It is a little more than two years since Zimbabwe's premier bowler, paceman Kyle Jarvis, returned to international cricket after a successful four-year stint in England. It's been anything but smooth sailing though, as Zimbabwe failed to qualify for the 2019 ODI World Cup and this year's T20 WC, not to mention the ICC suspension they received last year which saw the team have its funding cut.

However 2020 represents a new dawn. Although Jarvis is absent from Zimbabwe's tour of Bangladesh, he expressed hope for the future in an interview with Cricbuzz that also covered Sri Lanka's recent Test tour, the revelation that Zimbabwe Cricket would be cutting player salaries, the 31-year-old's experience in England and the current state of fast bowling in Zimbabwe. Below are excerpts from the interview:

The Sri Lanka series wasn't a bad one for Zimbabwe after 14 months out of Test cricket...

To come and play against a good side like Sri Lanka and in both Tests push them to the last day - and we were in a really good position to win the game on day five in the second Test - is a pretty good effort. All the guys love playing Test cricket and we want to play more Test cricket, so performances like that will obviously help our case.

We know that a Zimbabwe that's playing a lot of games is a competitive Zimbabwe. We can push the best teams but it's hard to do that when you have two or three months between series. At least this year it's going to be a lot better (in terms of fixtures).

You didn't play in the second Test due to a back problem. What is the extent of your injury?

It's a bit of a bulging disc. These things happen. If all's fine (after the next scan), then I'll start training again and be ready for the next series - the Ireland series in April.

It's by no means a career-ending injury, it's just something that a fast bowler gets which should hopefully just resolve itself over the course of the next six to eight weeks.

There were two very different game plans on display against Sri Lanka - in the first Test it was quite defensive and in the second Test it was very attacking. Which strategy do you think works better for Zimbabwe?

Definitely the positive option, the attacking option, as you saw in the second Test when we pushed them into the last day and had to bowl them out. It was a very placid wicket, it wasn't an easy pitch to get 20 wickets. It was always going to be pretty tough, but definitely the more positive we are, the better we play.

The Harare Sports Club pitch did look very flat in both Tests and it seems to be suiting fast bowlers less than it used to?

I think some of that was just to counter quite a lot of pace that they had in Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal and Kasun Rajitha. We just wanted a really good cricket wicket. With all the rain that had been around in the month before, if you'd left some grass on it, it would have been greener and probably would have been quite a sporty wicket. So, we decided to shave the grass off and just make a good cricket wicket. That's probably as flat as I've ever seen Harare Sports Club.

Funnily enough, I've played a lot of cricket in Bangladesh over the last couple of years and I've had a pretty good time over there. That Dhaka wicket in Mirpur is actually really nice for the seamers to bowl on, the last Test I played there, I think I got five (wickets) in the first innings and three in the second. I'd probably take a Dhaka wicket over the Sports Club wicket we just played on.

Given the recent news about player pay cuts as part of ZC's austerity measures, do you feel at times that playing cricket for Zimbabwe is more about the love of the game and the pride of representing your country, than it is about just being a regular job or a career?

When you put on the shirt and the cap it's always about, first and foremost, playing for your country but at the end of the day it is a job and you have to put food on the table. So, there's both aspects to that, and like I said it's always a pride thing - you want to play for your country, but you've also got to look after what's right for you and your family.

You cited job security as one of the motivating factors behind moving to England in 2013 to play county cricket for Lancashire, so how did the move back to Zimbabwe in 2017 come about?

The chairman, Tavengwa Mukuhlani, and the managing director at the time, Faisal Hasnain, got in touch with myself and Brendan Taylor, mainly to come back for the (World Cup) qualifiers, and just to get back into international cricket again. So, it was an exciting time and I would just like to thank them for bringing both of us back. I know for me I felt like it was a good time to come home and move back with my now-wife.

Obviously, it's very well documented that there's been a few issues since I moved back; after those qualifiers, when the funding stopped, the suspension last year. So, it's been a bit of a start-stop the whole time and obviously at times there were questions. Have I or have I not done the right thing by coming back, and leaving the stability of county cricket? But I'm really happy where I am, I'm happy I came back to play for Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, we didn't quite get over the line in the qualifiers, which was the main reason for myself and Brendan coming back. It was so close in the end and heartbreaking, and probably one of the lowest moments. But I'm really happy being back in Zimbabwe cricket and I'm hoping that all these issues are behind us and everyone in the organisation can move it forward.

Having spent time in England, in which ways do you think Zimbabwe has fallen behind and can improve?

I think everyone could benefit from playing more cricket, when you see the volume of cricket that's played in the UK compared to what we're doing here - and we have weather where you can play 12 months of the year. But I guess all of that comes down to the financial constraints Zimbabwe Cricket has been placed under, so I'm sure everyone - including the administration - would like more cricket. It's just a financial thing.

Everyone would benefit from more domestic cricket and the best way to bring through youngsters to take the next step is A-side cricket, which I think there's been none of in the last few years. I'm sure that's on the board's agenda, to get some more A-side cricket.

How did playing for Lancashire change your game?

When I got over there, I think I was 24, I was by no means an established cricketer. In my first year I struggled to get a solid spot in the Lancashire side which I thought would have been a given. I struggled for a while and eventually decided I needed to get better, which I did. In my second year Ashley Giles took over from Peter Moores and gave me an opportunity, and then I had what I thought was three really good seasons - getting 50 wickets a season and playing quite a bit of the white-ball stuff. Definitely, you find out who you are as a cricketer in county cricket just because of the volume of the cricket that you play there. It's given me a lot more experience and I know who I am as a cricketer, and the good days far outweigh the bad days, where it was probably the other way around before I got there.

Over the last two years I've had a few opportunities to go back over as an overseas (player), unfortunately it's just twice coincided with another tour and a niggle - I didn't want to go over if I wasn't 100%. Hopefully the overseas opportunities still come up for me in the next couple of years, I'd love to get back over there and play some more county cricket in between my international duties.

During your time in England, did you deliberately lower your pace to focus on line, length and more movement?

When I first arrived, in my head I thought I was a swing bowler. I didn't have the consistency with the swing to hold my line and length as long, so I shortly worked out that I was a better bowler using the seam - if you want to call it like a "Glenn McGrath"-type bowler. I used the seam a lot more than I swung the ball and with that came the consistency. I think pace-wise, there's times where you feel like you can turn it on but when you're staring down the barrel of 14 first-class games, plus white-ball cricket, it was quite tough to try and really rev it up every single game. I think I did sacrifice a little bit of pace, but with that came the consistency which I feel I've got now and at certain times I can turn it on, and on days I have been reaching just under 140 kph still.

In international cricket the batters are so good now, 140 kph doesn't really scare a batter anymore. Consistency is far more important for me - your line and length - than running up and bowling as fast as you can.

It's been a long time since Zimbabwe produced an express 145 kph bowler, in fact you might have been the last one to hit that speed. Why do you think that is the case?

I don't know why that is, I guess it just goes in stages and hopefully we get a few bowlers bowling those sorts of speeds again sometime soon. There are a few guys around in those mid-130s but there's no out and out express 140-plus. I guess in the world they're like hens' teeth now - to have someone who consistently bowls above 140 kph and stays on the park.

There's one youngster (19-year-old Kudakwashe Macheka) at the Alistair Campbell academy who's bowling pretty good speeds, he's obviously just young and still a bit raw. Lovely run up and action, got a few things to work on but he can get the ball up there. I'm working with him at training and adding what bit of value I think I can.

Do you get measured against the speed gun in Zimbabwe?

Unfortunately, there is no speed gun. We don't have that equipment. I think it would be very valuable for us, and I'm sure it's in the works, to get a speed gun which we can use at training. I know I would personally like to know at what level I'm training at and I guess it will definitely help be more consistent speed-wise in games.

I have a look at the laptop after a day's play and try and work out what went well, what went badly, and use that information. I find it very beneficial for myself.

You and Brendan Taylor both play domestically for the Alistair Campbell academy - the Rangers - as experienced professionals. Was it your decision to play for them or were you assigned there?

We had been asked by Alistair and the head coach Gary Brent, first of all, what we thought we could bring to it and if we could help out. I know myself and BT have been lucky in our careers - and had pretty reasonable careers - and we were keen to give back. So, it's been nice, it's obviously added pressure when we play because we know we need to perform and lead from the front, but it's been really enjoyable.

After the first few games we had two guys take the step up to the national squad. A guy in Charlton Tshuma, who was in the squad of 15, and an opening batter by the name of Brian Mudzinganyama (who debuted as a concussion substitute) against Sri Lanka), both very promising prospects - which is great, to have these new guys coming through the system and putting pressure on everyone else for spots. I think for a few years, there was a lack of competition but now there's some very promising Under-19s which we've just seen at this World Cup (in South Africa), some really good players, and with this academy hopefully some more players come through the system and start putting pressure on some of the older guard who are at the back end of their careers.