Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema-Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE world was first introduced to Richard Ngarava, rather infamously so, when the 28-year-old reached notoriety during the 2016 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
West Indies’ Under-19 entered the quarter-final of the World Cup in controversial and tense circumstances, as Keemo Paul effected a mankad to claim the last Zimbabwe Under-19 wicket — that of Ngarava — with three runs needed off the final over.
Paul ran through the bowling crease without entering his delivery stride and broke the stumps, catching the non-striker Ngarava with his bat on the line while he was standing a couple of steps out of his crease.
The two on-field umpires conferred before asking West Indies if they wanted to uphold the appeal, and once it was confirmed that they did, the third umpire was called in and found the batsman just on the line, ending Zimbabwe’s campaign in a game they had to win to make the quarter-final.
While the dismissal was within the rules of the game, it was subject to debate for months on end as some felt it brought into question the integrity and sportsmanship within the game.
That was then
Now, almost a decade to the date, the players at the centre of the incident have progressed into senior international careers.
Ngarava appears to have had a senior career with the seamers; the bowler was recently appointed Zimbabwe’s Test captain.
The 28-year-old is also one of the key figures of Zimbabwe’s current three-pronged attack, alongside Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans.
“This is our time, this is us now,” bellowed Ngarava, in reference to the three-man pace attack.
“These are the guys on my level, and we’re willing to take Zimbabwe cricket, as far as we can in terms of dominating this fast bowling,” he said.
The trio was on Monday the focus of attention as the Chevrons began their ICC T20 World Cup campaign on a high courtesy of an eight-wicket over Oman.
They took three wickets each as Zimbabwe skittled out the Middle East nation for 103 runs.
Zimbabwe chased down the target with relative ease, losing only two wickets, with another young Turk, Brian Bennett, leading the charge with an unbeaten 48 runs off 36 balls.
While Bennett batted valiantly and probably deserved a half-century in his first T20 World Cup match, Zimbabwe’s bowling unit deserves most of the credit.
Blessing Muzarabani was duly named Player-of-the-Match with his three wickets for 16 runs seeing the lanky seamer become Zimbabwe’s top wicket-taker at the T20 World Cup.
In fact, since the last edition, 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s wickets have come from the seam department with Muzarabani and Ngarava leading the charge.
“The only idea is that we have to be ourselves, always coming through and learning as much as we can always.
“It’s always nice to have had a few years of learning, adapting to different situations, and making sure that you are part of the pack.
“Being part of the team towers (alongside Muzarabani) is something which is also exciting, where everyone wants to bowl with us.
“It’s pretty nice to get that pack where we have three fast bowlers, who are capable of taking a wicket.
“I feel like we have got a complete fast bowling unit.
“Everyone in the group is open to learning new things every single game,” Ngarava said.
The win over Oman saw the Chevrons jump to the top of Group B with two points and a healthy net run rate.
Sri Lanka are second, on the same number of points, followed by Ireland and Oman (0).
Group favourites and Zimbabwe’s next opponents, Australia, are expected to kick off the World Cup campaign this morning when they take on Ireland.
Australia are the last side in the group to begin their T20 World Cup campaign, and the late start plays heavily into their favour, given the injury concerns rocking their camp.
They are already without Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood after both were ruled out with injury and Australia’s selectors have intriguingly not yet replaced Hazlewood in the 15 and will only have 13 to choose from for their opening match against Ireland.
Tim David is also expected to miss the opening round as he continues his rehab for a hamstring injury.
Had the first match been any earlier, there may have also been doubts about Nathan Ellis coming off a hamstring concern and Adam Zampa, who experienced some groin tightness in the last T20I of the tour of Pakistan a fortnight ago, which Australia lost 3-0.
Australia are also struggling for form, having been hammered in Pakistan despite many of them coming from the Big Bash League.
However, Ellis, David, and Glenn Maxwell were all absent from that trip, while many of the World Cup squad only played one or two games in the series at most.
The change in conditions will challenge them, as will Ireland’s spinners George Dockrell and Gareth Delany after both bowled well against Sri Lanka.
Ireland will feel under some pressure after butchering a chance to beat Sri Lanka in Colombo in their tournament opener.
They dropped seven catches and gave up 59 runs from their final four overs with the ball.
They were 105 for 2, albeit with the required run-rate climbing but lost 8 wickets for 38 runs to lose the game by 20 runs.
In theory, Ireland have the advantage of being a slightly unknown quantity to Australia.
The two teams have only met twice in T20Is and only once in all international cricket since 2016.
They played at the Gabba in the 2022 T20 World Cup, and eight of the Ireland XI who featured against Sri Lanka played in that game too.
However, Australia may only have four players in their XI who played four years ago, with a number of retirements and injuries changing the outlook of their team.
The only other time the two teams met in the shortest format was in the 2012 T20 World Cup in Colombo.
Paul Stirling, Dockrell, and Maxwell all played in that game.
Zimbabwe will keep an eye on this match, especially given the fact that Australia and Ireland will be their next two opponents.
The Chevrons play Australia on Friday and then meet the Irish next Tuesday.
Zimbabwe will then wrap up their T20 World Cup group stages with a match against co-host Sri Lanka on February 19.
For now, they will probably relish their big win against Oman as the tougher test against Australia awaits.
“We are still going to sit down and sort of have a chat about what we think we could have done better or what we did right in the game, but it’s still going to take us to the next game and just make sure we deliver every time,” said Ngarava.
