Herald
By Robson Sharuko in Bulawayo
28 May 2010
TO the casual observer the Micromax Trophy Tri-Series, which gets underway here at Queens this morning with Zimbabwe hosting India, is just another low-key cricket contest featuring a host nation trying to find a way back into the elite on the globe and two visiting opponents who have left their stars back home.
After all, the batting genius that the world calls a cricket god, Sachin Tendulkar, will not open the innings for the Indians today and, whenever that happens in a case where the absence is not injury-forced, the cricket family has a right to ask questions.
When that Indian team also doesn’t feature its regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, experienced spinner Harbhajan Singh and a battery of other players who have become the face of this team in the past few years, it’s natural that it takes some gloss off the side.
In some way it also has a bearing on the profile of the contest.
But then, to dismiss this tournament as another low-key event on the pregnant calendar of the world’s ultimate game of gentlemen and women, would not only be wrong but a myopic view divorced from the realities on the ground that should be key in guiding opinions.
To try and pretend that all has been well in Zimbabwe Cricket that the arrival of representative teams from India and Sri Lanka should not be cause for celebrations — especially on the home front — would be stretching the imagination too far.
Yes, Tendulkar — who gave the cricketing world a reason to smile with that incredible knock that destroyed Charles Coventry’s highest ODI score by an individual in the world — is not here and that matters for those who enjoy his class and who look to him to provide another knock for the archives.
But for Zimbabwe Cricket, given all the trials and tribulations of the past few years, the presence of an Indian team — no matter the composition — to play in an ODI series sponsored by an Indian Telecommunications Company, is a major victory.
Why?
Because this is the country that the New Zealanders, who were supposed to have been touring here at around this time, said was not a safe place to visit because the health of their players wouldn’t be guaranteed in a country they claimed was reeling from a string of horrible diseases.
Even when the assurances came that the cholera epidemic had long been contained and the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart was prepared to fly to Auckland to present the evidence, the Black Caps still found a reason to stay away.
At the height of the problems that were plaguing Zimbabwe Cricket, even South Africa decided to cut ties with the domestic game.
Now, without the money that comes from hosting touring sides, the competition that comes from playing established sides, chances are that any national cricket structure —no matter how strong — will eventually collapse.
That is why, even though the big names are missing from this tour, there is every reason why the Micromax Tri-Series should be a celebration, rather than purely an examination, of the state of Zimbabwe cricket.
When stand-in Indian skipper Suresh Raina and his Sri Lanka counterpart Tillakaratne Dilshan shared the podium with Zimbabwean captain Elton Chigumbura in a news conference here yesterday, that picture was worth more than a thousand words because it meant far more than just a media briefing.
When millions of Indians, who follow their cricket religiously, open the newspapers today and see Raina talking to the media in Zimbabwe, it will mean much more than the words that they would be reading.
It will mean that, contrary to what the Black Caps of New Zealand claimed to find a way of staying away and, in the process, squeezing life out of Zimbabwe cricket, there is still a working structure here that can enable touring teams to play the game in the best conditions possible.
Even Cricinfo, the authoritative cricket website, appears to agree that the mere fact that this tournament has gone ahead here, rather than the identity of the players in the Indian and Sri Lanka teams, is a major victory in Zimbabwe Cricket’s battle for a return to where it used to belong among the elite nations.
“By no means is this Tri-Series top-flight international cricket — it features two other teams (India and Sri Lanka) who should now be sick of playing each other, that are also too massively under par because of rested players,” said Cricinfo.
“Nonetheless, it’s being played in Zimbabwe, and that should be cause for celebration.”
Even the SuperSport crew have come from across the Limpopo and Pommie Mbangwa, who has become the face of the game’s presentation on that pay-per-view television channel after replacing Mike Haysman, has returned to his hometown for a close analysis of how far the team that he used to play for has gone in terms of its resurgence.
It’s the spin-off benefits that come from convincing the world that it’s not very safe for international teams to play cricket here that are more important, in the long-term interests of the domestic game, than the results that will come from what happens on the field.
Of course, cricket needs a fan base, as much as it needs a good player base and a battery of sponsors, for it to thrive and the people of the City of Kings need to set the tempo — beginning from this morning — to show the world that the game they thought was dying here is slowly regaining consciousness.
The fans, though, also want a winning team.
That responsibility falls on the shoulders of new skipper Chigumbura and his battalion who — on their day — can be good enough to play the best in the world in limited overs cricket but, sadly, haven’t found the mental strength to carry their form long enough for it to become an identity of their game.
The hard-hitting all-rounder took over as captain after Prosper Utseya finally called time on his term as skipper following the team’s Twenty20 World Cup Caribbean adventure where they flattered only to deceive in the Guyana rain.
“I feel honoured to have been promoted to captain my country and I’m looking forward to the challenge and hoping to make a difference with my captaincy,” he said.
“We need to start winning games. We are capable of winning games and we have done it in the past. We are playing a home and I think we have a good chance of making an impact during this Tri-Series.
“Our players have played more games now than some of the other cricketers that we will come up against and we cannot go on blaming experience anymore.”
Chigumbura’s promotion to the captaincy might have been doubtful just a month ago when new coach Alan Butcher questioned his late arrival at a training camp in the Caribbean and demanded answers.
But that is now all forgotten and the Englishman, who has been tasked to change the fortunes of Zimbabwe cricket at a time when a Zimbabwean Andy Flower is coaching the English team, is confident that the stage has been set for the domestic game to find its feet and compete with the best again.
During the tour of the Caribbean, on those low and slow pitches, the Zimbabweans could trouble their opponents, including an Australian team that ultimately reached the final, and a Pakistan side unlucky to lose in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup, with their variety of spinners.
On the tracks back home, starting at Queens today, where the wickets are likely to offer bounce and suit the pace bowlers more than what happened in their Caribbean adventure, they need more than the spinners and the lack of genuine pace to keep the pressure in this Zimbabwean team has been a cause for concern.
Chris Mpofu is useful, on his day, but it’s the consistency that is lacking.
Andy Blignaut, back on his home turf and with his focus back on his national duty, might remember that day when he took on the might of the Aussies here at Queens during a World Cup game and his bat gave the home fans reason to believe before Brett Lee and company destroyed those hopes.
His all-round abilities bring substance to this Zimbabwean team although, after a long lay-off from the trenches of the game at this level, it would be difficult for him to quickly ease into the groove. The runs should be guaranteed, on our day, from opener Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Vusi Sibanda, right down the order but, as Chigumbura rightly says, the key is producing the good performance when it matters and on regular occasions.
There is a very good chance that these battles will be close but, with the administrators having won a big boardroom battle by just making sure that the Indians and the Sri Lankans toured this country, the challenge is now on the coach and his players to also win their battle on the pitch.