Freelance cricket writer based in Zimbabwe
It is the rainy season in Zimbabwe, and the entire country is carpeted in green. Every year, this place undergoes a remarkable transformation with the coming of the rains. When the heavens open, the soil offers a telluric blessing, a faint petrichor that tells us this: a desiccated land deadened by the annual drought has somehow come back to life. Where there had been just dust and bone, now everywhere something sprouts and grows. Even on that greensward temple, the cricket field.
Not so long ago, Zimbabwean cricket was known only for mismanagement, dysfunction and bankruptcy. Not a year ago, they lost their greatest batter of the last two decades, and the coda of Brendan Taylor ’s playing career will forever be scandal and shame. Yet, with just a little nurturing, cricket here has somehow sprung back to near full bloom.
The most visible symbol of this transformation has been the rise of Sikandar Raza. Eighteen months ago, a bone marrow infection almost ended his career. Yet here he stands, Zimbabwe’s talisman, approaching his mission with the singular focus of a revenant, raising the team around him with runs, wickets, catches and energy. Not given to self-promotion, the first thing he does when asked about his ascent is big up his teammates.
“It has been a great year for Zimbabwe, it really has,” he tells WCM. “I’m not big on personal highlights. My personal highlight would have to be a game where Zimbabwe won. Zimbabwe, as a team, is definitely going forward. Zimbabwe, as a team, achieved a lot of good things. Zimbabwe, as a team, brought a lot of fans back. Zimbabwe, as a team, brought a lot of happiness to the faces of Zimbabweans.”