MEET THE CHEVS’ BERLIN WALL

He has taken a far more traditional path to sporting success.

He was schooled at Peterhouse, one of Zimbabwe’s most prestigious boys’ boarding schools, and then spent a year at South Africa’s Kingswood College where he was under the leadership of former first-class cricketer Andrew Birch.

His rise to the national team was always a matter of if, not when, and his returns have been staggering,

In just 77 internationals across all formats, Bennett has scored four centuries and 13 fifties, and is already fourth on Zimbabwe’s table of alltime T20I run-scorers.

He has anchored Zimbabwe’s line-up while also providing aggression at the right times.

How is Bennett dealing with the sudden attention?

“I liken him to a younger Craig Ervine, a man of few words but as good as they come,” Brendan Taylor said.

“He’s very loyal to his team and he’s just got a great head on his shoulders. Having his family over here as well and you can just see they’re such a tight-knit close family and very well supported by his mum and dad.

“He’s very well liked in the group and he’s got a soft nature to him and a cheeky sense of humour as well.”

Bennett’s parents have been in Sri Lanka watching the team and his mother was interviewed after the Australia game.

“This is our first time at a World Cup with him and we are very, very proud parents,” she said.

His flying catch against Oman, running and diving forward, has become the stuff of many memes.

It’s one of the things that will ensure that no matter what happens, Zimbabwe are being talked about in this tournament well beyond the final ball and has given the cricket a respectability it lacked for decades.

Zimbabwe are back, is what people are saying, but perhaps for the first time, they are truly here.– Cricinfo