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Robson Sharuko-H-Metro Editor
YESTERDAY, it didn’t go according to script, the City of Kings didn’t explode into a giant outdoor party and there were no celebrations for Zimbabwe’s qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup.
A defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka denied Dave Houghton and his men a ticket, at the first time of asking, to India later this year.
The Chevrons will try again tomorrow against Scotland.
Given it would be the 40th anniversary of the Chevrons’ maiden appearance at the World Cup, in England in 1983, it’s probably just right that they feature at this year’s tourney.
More importantly, such a success story will help consolidate the gains which domestic cricket has made in the last few years – both on and off the field.
Zimbabwe has transformed itself from being the sick and problem child of the ICC into one of the organisation’s darlings, which is leading the way in showing that cricket is, indeed thriving, far away from its usual theatres.
After all, this was the sport they said was on its deathbed.
They said it was going the way Kenya went – crashing from the spectacular heights of reaching the 2003 World Cup semi-finals, to virtually disappearing from the scene. What they didn’t count on was the resilience of the people of this country and the strong foundation on which this game was built here.
Today, domestic cricket is in very good shape, the players are playing with a real passion for their country, the fan base is exploding, with new recruits, and the administration is on point.
Incredibly, the game’s administration is now being used as a model, for both vision and transparency, in a country where the leadership of its main sport code, football, has been an endless classic exhibition of pre-medieval chaos.
But, it was not always like this for cricket
Eight years ago, just after being elected into power, Zimbabwe Cricket boss Tavengwa Mukhuhlani was being accused of being a man on a mission to eliminate all the white interest from the sport.
“I have just been advised that Andrew Waller has been fired as specialist batting coach at Zimbabwe Cricket,” former Sports Minister, David Coltart, wrote on a local online cricket forum, in October 2015.
“If this report is true, it is an absolute travesty and I am afraid further evidence of a not-so-subtle racist agenda by the new Zimbabwe Cricket board, which took over from Wilson Manase a few months ago, which is seemingly determined to rid cricket of every last Zimbabwean white from the set-up.”
Well, today, the team’s two captains, for the Test and limited overs, are all white players – Sean Williams and Craig Ervine.
And, together with Sikandar Raza, they are the team’s most important trio.
The Chevrons have also become the one national sports team, which represents all the races of this country, and parades the beautiful harmony, which exists among these races, to the world.
And, it’s the one with the shirt which has the name of its country boldly scripted across the chest.
The fans know that it’s a team, which represents all of them, and provides a true reflection of the cordial race relations, which exist in this country.
That’s why we are now having a full-house of 15 000 fans, of all races at Harare Sports Club on a Saturday, with an equal number being turned away, simply because the stadium is full to capacity.
That’s why we had a full house at Queens yesterday.
Peter Chingoka must be smiling in his grave right now.
For this was the vision he had when he said domestic cricket’s survival, and future success, could only be guaranteed if the game was transformed into a truly national sport.
It wasn’t easy, given the reluctance of those who wanted to keep it as an exclusive minority sport, and all sorts of accusations were thrown at Chingoka and Ozias Bvute, then the ZC managing director.
Chingoka was even banned from attending a London meeting, in February 2008, of the ICC because of a pending report by KPMG, on alleged corruption in Zimbabwe cricket, which was never proven.
He was banned from travelling to the European Union and in December that year the Aussies handed him a similar ban.
Bvute was also banned from traveling to Australia while immense pressure was exerted for him to be banned from travelling to the European Union and the United States.
They fought a brutal battle, and they had few sympathisers because of the player rebellions, which weakened the national teams, including one which was bowled twice, in one day, in a Test match.
They made mistakes, like all humans do, but they had a vision to transform local cricket into a truly national sports code which would belong to the people of Mufakose as much as those in Borrowdale Brooke.
They shattered the racial pillars and today the Chevrons, in particular, and local cricket, in general, are both truly representative of this country.
And, the fans, in their different shades and colours, have responded accordingly.
leeroy
Online Reporter