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Arab News
29-05-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Signs of hope for a cricket nation in transition
On May 23, a one-off, four-day Test match began at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, between England and Zimbabwe. It was the first match in any format between the countries since 2007 and only the seventh Test match played between them. The last meeting was in 2003 when England hosted two Tests, winning both by an innings. Overall, England has won four of the seven Tests, with three drawn. Two of these were in December 1996, the first time England toured Zimbabwe, which was granted full membership of the International Cricket Council in 1992. Zimbabwe's playing performances over the last three decades have fluctuated drastically. In the first 30 Test matches, only one was won, at home to Pakistan in early 1995. This prompted discussion that the granting of Test status had been premature. However, a talented group of players emerged to provide the basis for a Test team that became one of the hardest to beat in the late 1990s. It won a one-off Test against India in October 1998, following up on this by beating Pakistan 1-0 in a three-match Test series in November and December 1998. The one-day international team qualified for the 1999 World Cup, narrowly missing out to New Zealand on a semi-final place because of an inferior net run-rate. These golden years were ended by political turmoil. The 2003 World Cup was jointly hosted by Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa. Concerns over security of players caused England to forfeit a match scheduld to be played in Harare. A desperate shortage of food, a deteriorating economic situation and violent clashes between rival factions led two Zimbabwean players, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, to stage a protest. In a long statement they said that they could not 'ignore the fact that millions of our compatriots are starving, unemployed and oppressed … that thousands of Zimbabweans are routinely denied their right to freedom of expression.' They wore black armbands, 'mourning the death of democracy.' Unsurprisingly, the government was embarrassed, both players were dismissed from the team and felt compelled to leave Zimbabwe. Team harmony, already affected by government involvement in selection, was further disrupted, with a succession of players deciding to end their international careers prematurely. In 2004, the team captain, Heath Streak, was sacked by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, prompting 14 other players to walk out. Despite attempts at rapprochement, results failed to improve in an environment of mistrust. Another bout of player resignations led the cricket board to voluntarily suspend the team from Test cricket in late 2005. After a six-year exile, Test cricket returned to Zimbabwe in August 2011 when Bangladesh was beaten in a one-off match in Harare. In subsequent years, off-the-field issues continued to dominate, whilest performances on the field were patchy and disappointing. In July 2019, the ICC voluntarily suspended Zimbabwe Cricket from ICC tournaments because it had failed to ensure that it was free from government interference. This meant that ICC funding was frozen and that neither men's nor women's teams could compete in T20 World Cup preliminaries and qualifiers, despite a lifting of the suspension three months later. It is only recently that greater optimism for the future of cricket in Zimbabwe has emerged. Control over finances seems to have been established, ICC funding of $13.5 million being used to support a five -team domestic structure, national sides and the expensive business of hosting Test matches. Since 1992, the men's Test team has played 124 Test matches, winning only 14, drawing 30 and losing 80. It would be easy for ZC to downplay Test cricket at a time when its relevance is being questioned. The stance of ZC's chair, Tavengwa Mukhulani, is diametrically opposite. He wants to see all Full Member teams play each other on a home and away basis, believing that the way for Zimbabwean cricketers to improve is by playing the stronger teams. Consequently, Mukuhlani is not in favor of a two-tier Test system. It is also an issue for him that Zimbabwe is not part of the World Test Championship, for reasons which are not clear to him. Zimbabwe's commitment to Test cricket is clear. In 2025, it will play 11 Tests, joint highest with Australia. The issues for Zimbabwe at Test level were illustrated at Trent Bridge. England was invited to bat first and raced to score almost 500 runs on Day 1, against bowling that betrayed a lack of knowledge of how to perform on an English pitch. In reply to England's 565 for six, declared, Zimbabwe's batters attacked, none more so than Brian Bennett, 21. He wrote himself into the history books by scoring the fastest Test century for Zimbabwe. Although England ultimately won by an innings and 45 runs, it was clear that Zimbabwe has talent to nurture. Some of this nurturing will fall to experienced team members. One of them, Sikandar Rasa, has played for Zimbabwe since 2013. Prior to the Test at Nottingham, he was playing in the Pakistan Super League for Lahore Qalandars. Once the Test, in which he bowled 25 overs and batted for 20 overs, had finished a day early, he flew back to Lahore via Birmingham, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, arriving minutes before play started. Lahore was set 202 to win. When Rasa went out to bat, 57 runs were needed from 3.2 overs. He immediately hit a four and six and, in the final over, repeated the feat to secure victory with one delivery remaining. Zimbabwean cricket has suffered tough times over the past 20 years. Superhuman feats such as Rasa's and the individual performances witnessed at Nottingham, where the team enjoyed colourful and musical support, provide hope for a brighter future. In Zimbabwe's first World Cup match at Trent Bridge in June 1983, when Australia was dramatically beaten by 13 runs, a bright future was suggested. Then, the team consisted almost entirely of white players, Ali Shah being the exception. Fifteen years later, nine of the team were white. At Trent Bridge last week, seven of the team were black, including the 6 foot, eight inches tall fast bowler, Blessing Muzarabani, who had claimed 26 Test wickets in 2025 prior to Nottingham. Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe between 1980 and 2017, is attributed with saying that 'Cricket civilises people and creates good gentlemen. I want everyone to play cricket in Zimbabwe. I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen.' Noticeably, there was no mention of women. Zimbabwe's women's team made its international debut in 2006 at the ICC Africa Regional Qualifier for the Women's Cricket World Cup. The team has yet to reach the final stages of a World Cup although it did win a gold medal at the Africa Games in 2023. Currently, the team consists entirely of black players. In the past two decades, a transformation has taken place that has turned the men's national cricket team into one that more closely represents Zimbabwe's demographics, in which white Zimbawean's make up less than 1 percent of the 17 million population. The women's team is totally reflective of that fact. Zimbabwean cricket needs an era of stability and support to allow its new generation of cricketers to mature.
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
England v Zimbabwe: first men's cricket Test, day one
Update: Date: 2025-05-22T09:03:24.000Z Title: Ali Martin's preview Content: If the history of English cricket tells us anything – and a reminder came only last winter with the women's team and a bloodbath in Australia that forced a change of captain and coach – it is that these things tend to operate in accordance with the Ashes cycle. Whatever iteration of Bazball this is, its place in history – and a few jobs in the set-up – will likely be defined by the Test results over the next nine months. Update: Date: 2025-05-22T09:00:02.000Z Title: Preamble Content: Hello and welcome to the third and final act of Bazball, the high concept film that has consumed English cricket for the past few years. The first two acts followed a narrative arc that Robert McKee would approve of, if only he knew what the hell cricket was. In 2022 and 2023 we had the set-up, with England playing some astonishing cricket and sweeping (almost) all before them. Last year they encountered conflict and obstacles, with series defeats in India and Pakistan and a growing backlash against the B-word. Now it's time for the resolution. In the next eight months England will play 11 Test matches, starting with Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge over the next four days, and the historical judgement on Bazball will be cast. We all know what a happy ending looks like: Sydney, early January, Ben Stokes holding a little urn and haemorrhaging tears of joy like the modern man he is. But not every great film – and Bazball is most certainly that – has a happy ending: Mulholland Drive, Se7en, Casablanca, Chinatown. If England draw with India and are pummelled by Australia, the euphoria of act one will be forgotten. Forget it Baz, it's Australia away. There's something else to consider. England have crept up to No2 in the Test rankings, a subject that we are contractually obliged to mention only when they have a chance of reaching top spot. There's a disconcertingly feasible scenario whereby they can win the Ashes in Australia and become world No1 at the time. Don't get too excited, though; the World Test Championship is still off limits. Even if England win all 11 Tests, they'll lose so many points for a slow over-rate that they'll probably still be stuck in mid-table. England are expected to beat Zimbabwe at a canter, so the main focus will be on the individual narratives. Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope are realistically playing for one place against India; Sam Cook has finally been dropped from England's greatest uncapped XI; Shoaib Bashir has been retained despite a bruising six months; and Josh Tongue, who has bowled ferociously for Notts since returning from injury, plays his first Test since the Lord's Ashes Test of 2023. Lord's 2023. Jonny Bairstow's stumping, Ben Stokes pumping sixes to all parts. The stakes felt bloody high then, even though we were still in act one. Now it's the start of act three, and it's time for this laboured metaphor to stop the denoument. Play begins at 11am, with the toss at 10.30am.
Times
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Treasured memories of my (small) part in Zimbabwe cricket's golden age
I am reliably informed that Zimbabwe's media officer for this week's Test against England at Trent Bridge is a chap called Darlington Majonga, and I am certain that he will do a much better job than the media officer for Zimbabwe's inaugural Test against India at Harare Sports Club in 1992. That's because that person, bizarrely, was me. Talk about utterly clueless. It was my third season playing club cricket in Zimbabwe and news of my part-time scribbling had clearly spread, but quite how that might have translated into any sort of suitability for this role was a mystery. My chief task was to ensure that no outgoing phone calls were made from the press box (which was no more than a sheltered annex on
