New Delhi: Mention Zimbabwe cricket to fans of a certain generation, and they would fondly remember the team of bringing a certain romance into global competition.
Who can forget the two memorable ‘Escape to Victory’ games in one-day World Cups, one in 1983 at Tunbridge Wells where Kapil Dev rescued India with a 175 for the ages, and four years later where Martin Crowe ran back into the shadow cast by the pavilion at Hyderabad’s Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium to complete a sensational catch after Dave Houghton’s brilliant 142 had almost caused a huge upset. In the end, it was only a three-run win for the Kiwis.
Nine days before Zimbabwe gave India an almighty scare at Tunbridge Wells, they had stunned Australia at Nottingham, skipper Duncan Fletcher – later the England and India coach – scoring 69 not out and claiming 4/42 bowling pace.
But the romance went out of Zimbabwe’s cricket long ago. For the last two decades, since the political upheaval left senior players battling the cricket board over selection and quota in the team, Zimbabwe cricket had spiralled into a place where the Full Member Nation felt more like an Associate side living in constant survival mode.
This is why Zimbabwe qualifying for the Super 8s comes as a breath of fresh air, and has brought a flood of goodwill to the squad. Few expected a team that had failed to qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup – Zimbabwe failed to make it to the 20-team tournament after losing to Uganda – would make it from a group that also had Sri Lanka and Australia.
But Zimbabwe’s stunning win over Australia, unsettled as the reigning ODI World Cup winners were, makes it very special, showing there can be light beyond all the gloom if players refuse to give up. The win over Australia shone the light on the senior pros carrying the scars of a cricketing nation that is on survival mode as well as young talent who can carry forward the upcoming generation.
The stars of the Aussie upset on a slow Colombo pitch were Brian Bennett, the 22-year-old opener who hit an unbeaten 64, adding to his status as the brightest rising batting star. The 6’5” pacer Blessing Muzarabani, 29, then undermined Australia’s chase by claiming 4/17.
But they owed it to the calm brought by skipper Sikandar Raza, 39, the Pakistan-born player who took up the game seriously after his dream of becoming a fighter pilot was dashed after failing a vision test. He moved to Zimbabwe where his parents were based, and having made his international debut in 2013, he has plied his trade in a legion of franchise leagues.
Zimbabwe cricket’s tumult was in global glare during the 2003 World Cup when Andy Flower, their biggest player, wore a black arm band on the field to protest the Robert Mugabe era policies. And fast bowler Henry Olonga’s protests which followed undermined skipper Heath Streak. A world class fast bowler in his prime, his leadership and career lurched amid his battles with the cricket board. Streak death in 2023 at the age of 49 after battling cancer further spread gloom.
As their bowlers kept picking one Australian wicket after another, Brendan Taylor sat in the dugout, ruled out of the game because of a hamstring injury. Taylor was Zimbabwe’s best batter by a distance when his brilliant 138 in Auckland in the 2015 ODI World Cup almost toppled India.
An abrupt retirement announcement followed that game, and now 40, he served an ICC ban of over three years for not reporting a match-fixing approach and then underwent rehab for drug abuse and alcoholism. Graeme Cremer, 39, the former skipper, had to work around his wife’s career as a pilot with Emirates. Brad Evans, who backed Muzarabani with three wickets against Australia, is 39. Another senior player keeping alive the Zimbabwe cricket story.
“One of the goals we set out for was certainly that we’re going to bring more recognition and respect to our country,” Raza said after the win over Australia. “Whatever has happened in the past has happened, but this group of boys and the way we have been together for a long time and the way we have gone about our business with utmost honesty and integrity towards the game itself and to each other in the changing room (has been special).”
India, South Africa and West Indies loom as their Super 8s Group 1 rivals. Zimbabwe may be thin on resources – they had only 13 fit players while taking on Australia – but one can trust them to continue battling.
