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ZIMBABWE Cricket grabbed global headlines this week after the senior team the Chevrons set a new world record for the highest total in men’s T20I cricket.
Their innings total of 344/4 against Gambia at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Sub Regional Qualifier B that ended in Kenya on Thursday, eclipsed the previous high of 314/3 that was set by Nepal against Mongolia last year.
Although they were playing against virtual unknowns in the world of cricket, Zimbabwe’s performance was difficult to ignore since so many records were broken on the day.
The record-breaking innings included 27 sixes, the most recorded ever in a men’s T20I, beating the 26 made by Nepal against Mongolia.
Zimbabwe went on to win the match by a massive 290 runs, which became another all-time T20I record, beating the 273 runs victory margin held by Nepal over Mongolia.
Chevrons skipper Sikandar Raza also had an innings to remember with his 133 runs off 43 balls, which became the first ever century by a Zimbabwean cricketer in this format of the game.
Raza’s ton came off just 33 balls, making it the joint-second fastest hundred in men’s T20Is.
He joined Namibia’s Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton who also made a hundred off just 33 balls earlier this year.
Estonia’s Sahil Chauhan holds the record for achieving the feat in just 27 balls.
There were so many milestones achieved by Zimbabwe in that match.
In fact, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Sub Regional Qualifier B was a tournament that Zimbabwe dominated by a country mile.
The Chevrons used the same event last weekend to break into the top five of the all-time highest T20I totals when they plundered 286/5 against Seychelles.
They did to complete an unbeaten in their games and progress to the final regional qualifier.
That they were going to win the tournament, as the only Full member playing against lower-tier sides, was never in question.
While we celebrate their milestone as a nation, we do so with guarded enthusiasm.
This is because we believe the chevrons achieved their feat only after having been demoted to play in such tournaments against bottom tier sides.
In fact, after all the excitement has died down, Zimbabwe Cricket would need to have some time for serious introspection.
There is no use in going to town about beating Gambia, who only became an Associate member of the ICC in 2017 and are ranked 95th in the world.
The chaos in the Gambian side says it all about their lack of seriousness in this sport.
The West Africans became the first team in cricket history to lose two T20 internationals by walkover earlier in the tournament having been unable to fulfil matches against Rwanda and Seychelles.
This was after they had arrived late for the event, which they knew before hand was going to take place in Kenya at the set time.
So, this is an indication to the Zimbabweans how low the Chevrons have fallen in world cricket.
The Chevrons do not belong to such low levels, playing against Mozambique, Rwanda, Gambia, Seychelles and hosts Kenya.
They were made to take this longer route in the qualification phase for the 2026 T20 World Cup after their monumental failure in the qualifiers of the previous event held in the USA and West Indies recently.
Instead, Uganda and Namibia, who by global standards, are actually novices, participated at the recent T20 World Cup, and were given a bye in the sub-regional qualifiers featuring minnows of world cricket.
Uganda and Namibia will only begin their qualification process at the upcoming 2025 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Regional Final.
Thus, ZC need to be sober and reflect on the various opportunities that they have missed in recent years to qualify for major cricket events in both men’s and women’s cricket.
Something is terribly wrong.
Zimbabwe’s poor run in the qualifying tournaments has continued to haunt the various national teams, as no Zimbabwean side will be part of marquee International Cricket Council events in 2024 and 2025.
Recently, the Under-19 Women’s team failed in their bid to qualify for the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025 after suffering a heartbreak in a qualifier held in Uganda.
Surprisingly Nigeria, a country with no known cricket heritage, qualified ahead of them.
Zimbabwe again suffered disappointment for the 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup in 2023 after stumbling in the 10-team Qualifier that they hosted in Harare and Bulawayo, with Netherlands and Sri Lanka qualifying at their expense.
The Zimbabwe senior women’s side also failed to qualify for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup that was held in the United Arab Emirates recently.
Qualifying for major events has been a major problem.
But there is always time to make amends.
ZC must seize the moment to make things right again.
As we prepare to co-host the 2026 Under-19 World Cup and the 2027 Men’s World Cup it is time that we look ourselves in the mirror and reflect on what we need to achieve as a cricket nation.
Thanks to the ICC for assenting to the hosting bids, which makes Zimbabwe automatic finalists. The country will not need to go through the rigorous and often delicate qualifying process.
Preparations for the events should start as early as possible to avoid further disappointments.
The year 2027 may sound far but in terms of preparing for such momentous events ZC cannot afford to waste any more time.
Judging by the developments off the pitch like the construction of the Mosi-oa-Tunya multi-sport complex in the resort town of Victoria Falls and plans to upgrade Queens and Harare Sports Club, it seems ZC are quite aware of what is expected of them in terms of infrastructure.
With Zimbabwe having already qualified by virtue of being hosts together with South for the 2027 World Cup, we hope and believe that ZC have begun empowering the technical team with the prerequisites of building a strong national team.
ZC must also double their efforts in the grassroots to lay the foundations for strong age-group teams, which feed into the future senior national teams.
Online Reporter