Rusere becomes first black African to stand in Test match

Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN cricket umpire Langton Rusere continues to push boundaries as he made history today by becoming the first black African to stand in a Test match.

The 35-year-old match official is one of the on-field umpires for the five-day game between Zimbabwe and Pakistan that begins this morning at Harare Sports Club.

According to a statement from Zimbabwe Cricket, he will be standing in this Test with South African umpire Marais Erasmus.

Former Zimbabwe international cricketer Andy Pycroft is the match referee, with compatriots Iknow Chabi and Chris Phiri appointed as television and fourth umpires respectively.

Rusere has not looked back since he stood in his first international match, the Twenty20 international between Zimbabwe and India at Harare Sports Club, on July 19, 2015.

Three months later, he made his one-day international (ODI) bow in the match between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, on October 24, 2015.

After making his mark at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016 in Bangladesh, he went on to do duty at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 staged in England.

As his stock continued to rise, he was appointed as one of the on-field umpires for the ICC Women’s World T20 2018 final between Australia and England that was played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua in November 2018.

Rusere had also stood in the semi-final between Australia and the West Indies at the same venue. In February last year, he got his first ever overseas appointment for a bilateral series after he was appointed to officiate in the three-match ODI series between New Zealand and India.

Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to bat in the first Test match. However the innings got off to a bad start after losing three early wickets – Kevin Kasuza (0) and Prince Masvaure (11) and Tarisai Musakanda (14) – for 30 runs.