Clive Madande remembers the day cricket became a part of his life. He was just a 12-year-old schoolboy when his father dragged him to the Harare Sports Club for a Test match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe in 2014. “It was one of the greatest days in Zimbabwean cricket. We beat Pakistan by 24 runs, and I thought well I should play this game,” the wicket-keeper batsman says. A decade later, he is one of the key figures in resuscitating the country’s lost cricketing heritage.
The defeat was perceived as a precursor of better days. Even though the victory was achieved against a side reputed to shower generosity on lower-rung teams, the country’s cricketing circle celebrated. Instead, in the next decade Zimbabwe slipped into the vortex of familiar demons. Administrative chaos, lack of infrastructure, suspension of the board due to undue interference of government, salary cuts and delayed payments, besides a general dearth in talent stalled their progress.
Amidst the chaos, they somehow spun an odd upset or two, like beating Australia in an ODI in Townsville, in Queensland, or upending Pakistan in the 2022 edition of the World Cup. But the golden generation of the Flower brothers, Neil Johnson, Murray Goodwin and Heath Streak has become a distant memory. Many left the country, Streak passed away last year, but some, like the first Test captain Dave Houghton, have stayed back to help the new generation come through. “Guys like Houghton, Tatenda Taibu, I speak to them regularly, for advice, motivation and tips. Whenever I feel like struggling I go back to them,” he says.
Houghton’s men nearly pulled an upset over India in their inaugural Test, after his men had beaten England in a 1992 World Cup game. But from lively giant-killers they became forgotten minnows, hitting the headlines only for wrong reasons. Suspension of the board, or a former player hiding a bookie’s approach. Matches, inevitably, dried up. In the last six years, they played only 10 Tests and are not part of the World Test Championship cycle; the last time they played a top-10 ODI nation was in 2022, the subsequent years spent labouring in the World Cup qualifiers. They couldn’t qualify for the T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies, the only full member who was not part of the series.
But busier days are knocking on their doors. Beginning with the India T20I series, they host all top nations, except Australia in the next cycle, and tour among other nations, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and England (for a four-day Test). “It’s a big motivation that we need to play our best and we need to play a bit harder and smarter. You get a lot of exposure and improvement. But like we showed in the series against Bangladesh, we have talent. We played good cricket there, just that we couldn’t get the results we wanted,” he explains.
In the series, Bangladesh won two T20I games by margins of nine and five runs; in the tour to Sri Lanka, the hosts eked out a last-ball thriller to win the opening game. Led by the seasoned Sikander Raza, Zimbabwe’s evergreen hero who ditched his dream of becoming a pilot to play cricket. His is not an utterly raw team, with seven of them clocking at least half a century of T20Is for their country. Some of them are familiar names too — such as all-rounders Luke Jongwe.and Wessly Madhevere, fast bowlers Tendai Chatara and Blessing Muzarbani. “Moreover, we would be playing in our backyard, there will be a lot of people cheering for us. It’s still the most popular sport in the country, and a lot of youngsters and schoolboys play this game,” he says.
Contrastingly, the most experienced player in India’s in-transition squad is Washington Sundar with 43 caps. But Madande is realistic about his team’s prospects. “You look at all their experience in the IPL, and you realise they are a strong team though some of the World Cup winners are not here. Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Jitesh Sharma, they are my favourites in the league,” he says.
The 24-year-old knows that a clutch of impressive performances could elicit the attention of IPL scouts, and some of them could land up in the league, which has been an elusive shore for Zimbabwean cricketers. Only four Zimbabwean cricketers have ever appeared in the league, the last being Raza, who played just nine games across two seasons. “If more of us get to play cricket in franchises, the game would obviously draw more young talent to it, which would be good for the game overall in the country,” he says.
Apart from more tours and games, Zimbabwe Cricket is planning to build a national cricket academy, refurbish the domestic league and install indoor training facilities at all five domestic centres. Madande is optimistic that his country would rediscover his giant-scalping mojo, so that he and his teammates could inspire more youngsters to fall in love with the game, as he had a decade ago.
For online
Watch India Tour of Zimbabwe 5-match T20I series from 6th July 2024, 4:30 PM IST onwards, LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 5 SD & HD, Sony Sports Ten 3 SD & HD (Hindi), Sony Sports Ten 4 SD & HD (Tamil & Telugu).