What went wrong with Zimbabwean Cricket? The story of a formidable side getting bowled out by politics and nepotism.

Vishal Uppal explores and explains the story of political interference and corruption that ended the golden streak of Zimbabwean Cricket.

An ardent follower of cricket can never forget Henry Olonga’s opening spell in 1998 Champions Trophy match between Zimbabwe and India. Olonga packed Indian top order with Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar walking back to pavilion with dismal Indian scorecard of 28/3. Olonga finished with five wickets in an exhilarating match that was eventually won by Zimbabwe. The period from 1997 to 2002 is referred as “The Golden Era” of Zimbabwean Cricket. Once a formidable side of the late 1990s and early 2000s, Zimbabwe cricket team saw the worst upheaval in its cricketing history. The series of events that started in 2003 pushed Zimbabwean Cricket into state of oblivion for over fifteen years. The painful period is not finding an end. The indefinite suspension of Zimbabwe Cricket team from playing in ICC events from July 2019 is sad news for cricket fans. The ICC’s desire to keep political interference out of cricket is also mired with controversy as former sports minister David Coltart has accused ICC of ignoring the affairs for long. David suggested the fresh elections of the board instead of reorganization of corrupt and incompetent board in the past.

We will briefly explore how political interference and corruption ended the journey of the celebrated team.

The problem began in 2001 with reduction in funding from the government. In addition to cut in the funding, the selection of national team was plagued by introduction of quota system. The system provisioned for inclusion of minimum number of black players. It was alleged that administration of cricket was corrupted by the influence of Robert Mugabe’s racist anti-white policies. Despite difficulties on this front, the Zimbabwean team flourished from contribution of its players. Andy Flower was rated as best batsman during those times. The Flower brothers Andy and Grant, Heath Streak, Murray Goodwin and middle order players like Alister Campbell and Paul Strang contributed to revival of the team. Henry Olonga was a competitive and fierce bowler of the golden Zimbabwean cricketing era.

The internal strife came to the fore when Andy Flower and Henry Olonga wore black armbands to protest against “the death of democracy” in Zimbabwe. Both the players later emigrated under political pressure. The later events sealed the fate of high performing team. In 2004, the white captain Heath Streak was sacked by Zimbabwe Cricket Union. He was replaced by untested Tatenda Taibu. The resulting standoff between the ZCU and the senior players led to dismissal of fifteen players from the team. An almost all black team formed after dismissal of senior players performed poorly in test and limited over series. The team was outclassed by established and emerging teams. The team never emerged from the abyss. Some notable performances were seen during 2005, 2007 and 2011 in T20 and Test Cricket format; however, the outstanding debt and fund crunch led to demise of Zimbabwean cricketing fervor by the end of 2018. The state of Zimbabwean economy was a contributor in the downward spiral. The government interference in Zimbabwe Cricket (formerly Zimbabwe Cricket Union) through SRC (Zimbabwe’s Sports and Recreation Committee), has resulted in ICC cutting off funding and banning its team from participating in ICC events. The deep disappointment felt by players and all those associated with the sport is inconsolable.

The ICC next review is in October and cricket fans are hoping to see Zimbabwean team come out of abyss. We may see some form of funding similar to what happened for Afghanistan; but it may only happen on conditions of removal of government interference.

We have witnessed the gross destruction of sports in countries caught in bane of bureaucracy, nepotism and fulfillment of vested interests. Zimbabwean cricket has suffered for long. It is an exemplary case of what should never happen to a sport.