Online Reporter
Firdose Moonda
WHEN Sean Williams made his international debut on February 25, 2005, precisely one T20 international had been played up to that point.
Twenty years later Williams will be in action on the day the 6000th T20I, across men’s and women’s cricket, will be played today.
It will also be his 39th birthday, as he continues his run as the world’s longest-serving active international cricketer.
Since his debut, only two players, Hamilton Masakadza and Sikandar Raza, have been capped more times for Zimbabwe and only one, Brendan Taylor, has scored more runs.
Williams has played against 28 international teams in 17 countries.
When Williams says he has “seen the full cycle”, you have to believe him.
He is currently part of the Zimbabwe T20I squad that will compete in the Africa regional qualifiers, which get underway today, in their quest to reach the 2026 World Cup.
Cricket is completely different to what it was two decades ago, when he received his maiden international call-up.
Zimbabwe’s focus for the next two years is on the white-ball game.
They will co-host the 2027 ODI World Cup with South Africa and Namibia, and thanks to automatic qualification, will play in a 50-over World Cup for the first time in 12 years.
Williams will be past 40 by then and he doesn’t want to tempt fate.
“I can’t really speak about 2027 because I don’t know what will happen between now and then.
“Playing cricket and having a family is tough. It’s been tough on Chantelle and she has done very well to keep it all together because she deals with what I bring back too.
“And the girls are getting bigger. It’s always Dad this, Dad that, so when I am at home, it’s hard to manage cricket and family life.
“But obviously, I’d like to be there. I also think having us senior players around is a great thing.
“We don’t want too much to go on to the youngsters because they’re trying to find their feet in international cricket,” he says.
In the immediate term, Zimbabwe are also aiming to reach the 2026 T20 World Cup, after being the only Full Member to miss out on the 2024 tournament.
They have brought back Taylor, who served a three-year ban for failing to report approaches to fix matches, and Williams, having last played in May 2024, came back this month in the home series against Sri Lanka to boost their squad.
He has embraced the challenge of giving everything to help put Zimbabwe back on the global cricketing map.
“I’m a little bit nervous coming back because I haven’t been around T20 for a while now, but I am going to try to get into that role as quickly as possible,” he says.
“After all, I would have liked to have gone to more World Cups.”
He would also like to leave his mark on the format that barely existed when his career started, and which dominates the landscape as his career is coming to a close.
“The biggest change in cricket that I’ve seen has been T20 cricket coming in,” he says.
“It changed a lot here at home. It also changed things for opportunity. Guys got to start going to these leagues and start really having the opportunity to improve their skills.
“And the biggest change in cricket that I’ve seen in Zimbabwe is how we have performed after the 2019 suspension. We’re coming right and I’ve seen the full cycle.”
Today’s Fixtures
Harare Sports Club
Namibia v Kenya;
Zim vs Uganda
Takashinga Sports Club
Nigeria v Malawi;
Tanzania v Botswana. —Cricinfo
