Sundaymail Editor
Veronica Gwaze
Sports Reporter
WHENEVER she walks onto the field for a match in the month of May, senior national Women’s team cricketer, Esther Mbofana, is reminded of the death of her mother.
What started off as a fine tour in South Africa in May, 2015 turned out to be her worst memory as she returned home to find her mother lying lifeless on a hospital bed.
When she left for the tour, her mother had bade farewell and as usual wished her well while Esther on her part had hoped to return and share her experiences of the series with her mother.
But after death had struck, all that went up in smoke.
“I never sensed it, when I left for South Africa, she told me to go and play my heart out. Maybe these were the last words she wanted to say to me before her death.
“I realise that she was pretending to be okay when I left and it makes me think that maybe she wanted the best for me and would support my dream no matter what.
“It still hurts everyday especially when days like Mother’s Day or her birthday come, I find it hard to celebrate.”
Ironically, her first Lady Chevrons assignment was a tour to South Africa in 2012 and it also had to be the venue, for her last mission, before her mother’s death three years later. Her Journey
Mbofana attended Kuwadzana Eight Primary School before proceeding to Herentals College where she used to play Basketball.
During that time, her life revolved around basketball.
However, one day in 2009 when she was in Form Three, she had an accidental encounter with cricket and that was to change her life.
The Immaculate Cricket Club had visited the college, scouting for talent when she decided to go and watch.
Eventually she found herself with a bat in hand, wowing the coaches.
Since that day, the coach pressed her on to switch to cricket.
“l just went to their scouting session out of curiosity, to see how the game was played because this was my first time to hear about cricket.
“I loved basketball and had no intentions of abandoning my sport so the coach’s interests made me confused.”
That year, she joined the club and soon burst into big time cricket.
But because her heart was still in basketball, she would sometimes skip cricket training to return to the court.
She however, grew into the Immacualte Club’s favourite rookie and with it came more love for the sport.
Mbofana later moved to Mash-Eagles before she was selected for the national Under-9 team in 2010 and two years later she graduated into the Lady Chevrons fold.
In 2013, her father, who had grown to be her number one fan, died leaving her devastated.
“I feel I was robbed of my parents too early; they never got the chance to see me play.
“All I wanted was to play at the highest level, have them watch me do it and celebrate together as a family.”
Born first in a family of three, Mbofana was left to play parent to her siblings.
She recalls the sleepless nights and the stress she went through trying to take care of her siblings.
The difficulties were to ease when she got married to her sweetheart Tinashe Mutsonhi in July, 2017 on what was supposed to be her mother’s birthday and offered both emotional and material support.
Zimbabwe Cricket also came through for her financially.
However, she was no longer comfortable going into camp.
“l was worried because my young sister is asthmatic so my fear was that what if she got an attack while I was away,” she recalls.
“It was tough, I even contemplated abandoning the sport to take care of my siblings.
“Mutsonhi really stood up for me at that time, he would be there for all of us and kept pushing me to give my all in cricket.”
Her husband also quickly fell in love with cricket.
Although he was there for her, he feels cricket helped her heal quickly.
“I was quick to understand that she loves cricket and I had to support her as much as I could.
“For me, she is a complete package of a mother and although it is tough for her to celebrate Mother’s Day, personally I celebrate her for her resilience because only a mother can do that,” Mutsonhi said.
Online Reporter