Turmoil turns to rejoicing

Firdose Moonda
WHEN Tendai Chatara hit Adnan Akmal on the knee roll to strike for Zimbabwe early on the final morning, he ran to fine leg to celebrate.
Somewhat bewildered, his cricket team-mates followed.For each of the two wickets he claimed afterwards, they did the same thing. The area of the ground they enjoyed their successes in was not near the supporters’ club stand or the main building. In fact, there were hardly any people there at all.

So, what was so special about it that the entire team congregated there as they approached victory, Brendan Taylor was asked after their thrilling 24-run win over Pakistan in the second Test on Saturday. “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Tendai,” he said.

Andy Waller concurred, adding that he too didn’t know why the wicket-taking glee was on the opposite end of the ground from the change room.
The question was asked and Chatara, a shy 22-year-old overawed by media attention, just laughed.

“I also don’t know,” he said.
It turns out the place he ran towards on instinct is the direction of his hometown, Mutare. “The ghetto,” he called it, when talking much more seriously about how a small-town man felt on making it on the international stage. “Coming from the ghetto to here . . . it just feels nice to contribute,” he said.

A few years ago, the chances of Zimbabwe finding someone like Chatara would have been slim. He is not from one of the main cricket centres — Harare or Bulawayo — does not have the same advantage of going to a traditional cricket school and was considered a “raw talent” until very recently.

That Zimbabwe Cricket unearthed and nurtured him and that he put in a match-defining performance, picking up his maiden five-wicket haul, is testament to how the game has changed and even progressed in the years since Zimbabwe last beat a top team.

Victory against an opposition other than Bangladesh last came 12 years ago, when Zimbabwe beat India at the same venue. The team that played then and the circumstances they played in are completely different to the one who took the field this time.

In 2001, salaries were being paid, the game had yet to undergo the efforts to make it more accessible to the majority and the country was still relatively stable.

Fast-forward to the present and Zimbabwe and its cricket have been through significant change. Economic crisis and dollarisation has taken the economy from difficult times to a new kind of security.

The white-player walkout, transformation and a self-imposed exile from Test cricket left the game in tatters and triggered its slow and painful recovery. Success on their Test comeback in 2011 after six years in exile was quickly overshadowed by five straight defeats in the longest format.

The construction towards a competitive team seemed to have unraveled with crushing defeats at the World Twenty20 last year and the ODI series against India.

The very fabric of the game itself seemed to have worn thin because of the financial difficulty Zimbabwe Cricket found itself in. The first signs of money problems were brought to the world’s attention through Tatenda Taibu on the Test comeback. The since-retired wicket-keeper said “nothing had changed” in terms of unkept promises. They mounted up more steadily recently.

Heath Streak was laid off as bowling coach ahead of the April series against Bangladesh because of a financial concern. And the players who were not centrally contracted wanted to strike because the winter contracts they were being offered were not considered adequate. ZC reached an agreement with everyone except Craig Ervine, who opted for club cricket in Ireland.

Matters ballooned before this series. Having not seen their July or August salaries, the players formed a union, for the first time in decade and threatened to boycott first the whole tour, then the third ODI, then the Tests, unless paid. Each time, they extended their deadline and eventually ZC showed them the money, at the expense of some staff. Still, they lost Kyle Jarvis to premature retirement and Graeme Cremer and Sean Williams, who did not want to play unless paid.

Williams has since committed to Zimbabwean cricket. — Cricinfo.