NewsHawks 26 August 2022

NewsHawks Sport Page 51

Issue 95, 26 August 2022 ‘You need to pick your battles’:
Zim head to two World Cups
ENOCK MUCHINJO
Zimbabwe's World Cup-bound Sevens rugby team.
IT is almost that time again when the
cycle of major sporting World Cups team that can compete at internation- dar) Raza’s form in particular has been left the country, want to come back. cricket has had some rejuvenated per-
returns, and what a real feast it prom- al big-stage events because they focus beyond majestic, and hopefully a few With a bigger pool to select from, it formances of late and they go into
ises to be for the multi-fan. on that. So I think it’s great that Zim- of the boys can also rise to the occa- creates competition and there are a the T20 World Cup as underdogs,
babwe are sitting at the head table for sion when it matters and cause a few lot of young players coming through. but definitely no pushovers. We do
Football’s World Cup, the biggest the shorter versions of the game, be- upsets Down Under, similar to that I’m not sure about the objectives of have some match winners in the side
sporting event on the planet, will in ing in both cricket and rugby. There is famous 2007 (T20 World Cup) vic- both these disciplines for these tour- and on a good day they will get Zim
a few months’ time raise the curtain no reason why they shouldn’t focus on tory over the Aussies at Newlands (in naments, but I think the immediate winning some games. With Dave
on the four-year sequence of tourna- that. That’s what has made T20 crick- Cape Town).” result will be more guys wanting to Houghton in the fold, we should
ments when Qatar play host between et and Sevens rugby more attractive play these sports. Cricket has always expect some mouth-watering crick-
20 November and 18 December in because so many more countries can Cyprian Mandenge, who once held done well at this stage and I will not eting contests between bat and ball.
a historic tournament, the first in an compete.” the role of a director in the Zimba- be surprised if they beat some big On the rugby side, our Sevens lads
Arab nation. bwean cricket board and later coached teams there. They seem to be getting have worked extremely hard to get
The two forthcoming World Cups the national rugby side, also voiced stronger with each game.” there. The coaches will surely put up a
Sports fans will then wait a whole in quick succession have ignited ex- his full support for both World Cup- competitive side that had some good
year for another sumptuous treat, citement from a wide range of person- bound teams. The rapid and breathtaking pace of game time recently in Chile. Coaches
with the next biggest World Cups alities with keen interest in both dis- Sevens and T20 have the most appro- Graham Kaulback and Ricky Chiren-
in world sport – cricket and rugby – ciplines, such as one-time Zimbabwe “They both have put in a lot of priate fan in the versatile Derek Chi- gende have the opportunity to register
coming towards the end of 2023. Under-21 rugby fly-half and former work and I really hope they do well wara, who in his playing days epito- some upsets during the Sevens World
first-class cricketer Prosper Tsvanhu. because that will help with the growth mised the killer instinct of the two Cup. The youthful side has nothing to
Well, we already know there will of both sports,” said Mandenge, sports disciplines’ shorter versions — a dash- lose, but everything to gain from the
not be a place for Zimbabwe in Qatar, “I think it’s exciting times for the director of Harare’s Eaglesvale School. ing batsman in cricket and all-action experience of such a tournament. I
let us focus on the events in which the Zimbabwean sporting landscape, hav- loose forward in rugby at club level. urge all Zimbabweans to rally behind
country has or had its best chances of ing two sporting codes competing “Sevens rugby have got an excite- the two young squads as they carry
being in the mix. at the highest level, at a time when ment programme where they are Chiwara — head coach of school- the Zimbabwean flag high.”
there’s been very little to celebrate in working with the locally based play- boy rugby giants Falcon College and ZIM SEVENS RUGBY WORLD
There will not be a Rugby World recent times,” said Tsvanhu, who also ers. Nothing wrong with having for- Zimbabwe’s national women's Sevens CUP SQUAD
Cup appearance either for Zimbabwe, now works in the media. eign-based players, but I believe their team – is feeling the “buzz” ahead of Kudzai Mashawi (captain), Godfrey
again, after Namibia showed abso- system gives a lot of local-based play- the two World Cups. Magaramombe, Vuyani Dhlomo,
lutely no intention of loosening their “The Cheetahs (Zimbabwe Sevens ers a reason to want to play rugby. The Munopa Muneta, Munesu Muneta,
grip on Africa’s single qualification rugby team) are no strangers to the cricket guys have done well, they have “The buzz and excitement is real,” Tapiwa Malenga, Kuda Chiwanza,
ticket to the Webb Ellis Cup. big stage, having been there six times invested in the game. They have giv- commented Chiwara. “Zimbabwe Carlos Matematema, Ryan Musum-
prior, and I’m eager to see the boys en the guys a lot of game time at the taking part in the World Cup in T20 hi, Shingi Katsvere, Sam Phiri, Nigel
A realistic chance though remain punching above their weight in Cape highest level. That is the only way we cricket and Sevens rugby is nothing Tinarwo.
in cricket. Even if bottom-placed Town. Also, the T20 World Cup will can improve. They have been making but a positive boost for Zimbabwe-
Zimbabwe do not qualify directly be massive for Zimbabwe cricket, who great appointments as well, which is an sport. These two shorter versions
from the ongoing ICC World Super have seemingly hit a purple patch and crucial. With the results and the sys- keep fans on the edge of their seats,
League, they can still sneak through are peaking at the right time. (Sikan- tem, a lot of players, some who had and glued to the screen. Zimbabwe
to the finals in India via a qualification
event to be staged in the southern Af-
rican country next June.

But for now, if you are a Zimba-
bwean sports fan, do not get far ahead
of yourself because the country will be
represented in two World Cups in the
next two months.

Zimbabwe will take part in the
Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape
Town in early September before the
cricket side heads to Australia for the
T20 World Cup the following month.

Call them the minor World Cups if
you want and, true, these two show-
pieces are in the shorter versions of
cricket and rugby. But of course un-
like the bigger sporting nations, Zim-
babwe does not have the luxury of
treating these tournaments with less
enthusiasm simply because that is all
we have now, or all we could have in
the end.

It is just as well that this is the
stage on which Zimbabwe has its best
chance of competing on a level play-
ing field, and on a good day pose a
real threat to some of the best teams
in the world.

“I think in sports, in many coun-
tries, you need to pick your bat-
tles,” former Zimbabwe cricket-
er-turned-broadcaster Dirk Viljoen
told The NewsHawks this week.

“I think in rugby we will struggle
for many years to compete at the 15s
level for various reasons. Our sport
here and rugby being the perfect ex-
ample is just not at a professional lev-
el that is needed to compete against
countries like South Africa and New
Zealand and Australia.”

Viljoen, who is carving a niche for
himself as a television commentator in
both cricket and rugby, comments on
the competitive nature in the shorter
formats of the two codes.

“Sevens rugby has brought games a
lot closer and we’ve seen that in crick-
et, the Twenty20 game means that
bowlers only have to bowl four overs.
Yes it might be a little more fast-paced,
but we’ve seen around the world spe-
cialist Sevens rugby countries like
Kenya being a perfect example of a

Sports Nurturing
footballers
on the other
side of town

Romanticism v
Realism: How we
blew it againThursday 1 October 2020

Friday 26 August 2022 @NewsHawksLive TheNewsHawks www.thenewshawks.com

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INSIPID and uninspiring would be fair Chamisa reacwho has been spending time and batting
to describe some of the post-match Press gallantly alongside the superman Sikan-
conferences involving Zimbabwe’s cricket dar Raza, whose infectious work ethic and
team. bravery are of immense value to this Zim-
babwe team.
Most are a damp squib, to be honest, I was there around 16 years ago during
because the responses from the players are out to KhupeRaza’s early days in Zimbabwe, the Paki-
nondescript, the “we would have won if stan-born talisman having initially arrived
we bowled well” kind of stuff, desperately in this country primarily for other interests
frustrating for on-deadline reporters eager not exactly related to cricket. Probably
to draw the juicy bits to file to expectant with an illusion about international cricket
editors. too, and like Brad Evans a year ago, still
seeing himself as just a fan of others.
Let's not be too harsh, though, because It took just one free afternoon of watch-
diction understandably fails many non-na- Unofficial president calls for emergeing some of Zimbabwe’s best national
tive English speakers on the appropriate team players feature in a domestic game
words to use, especially in a packed Press- for Raza to conclude that if these guys
room when the cameras of journalists are could be internationals, so could he.
flashing away and the notebooks are out. So Alexandra Sports Club in Harare
was where the international cricket dream
We ought to also take it on the chin, started for a young man whose childhood
us guys in the fourth estate, for the equally aspirations had been to become a fighter
dreary questioning that prompt befitting pilot.
tedious answers. But from that modestly-assembled Alex
side of 2006-07 — if one had hinted at
Take, for instance, in the recent ODI possible future selections into Zimba-
series against India, how Zimbabwe’s bwe’s national team — players like Kuda
stand-in captain Regis Chakabva had to Samunderu, Thomas Dangarembizi and
field a question about the condition of the club captain Brighton Benhura would
pitch for the next match, with the covers have been considered those days to be far
back on and 72 hours before the next tie. ahead of Raza in the queue.
And even as he was mercilessly tear-
Thanks to good old Reggie, you can al- ing bowling attacks apart every week at
ways count on this chap to spare others the grounds across the country in the Vi-
blushes as he did on that occasion with the gne Cup and National League, Raza was
touch of a seasoned professional that he is. deemed nothing more than a slogger, a
batsman who wouldn’t survive the inten-
But then again words, in the world we sity of international cricket due to a sup-
live and work in, are powerful. They are an posed technique deficiency and limited
impression of intent, in professional sports shot selection.
— whether one wins or loses. Today Raza is one of the most talked
The heroics of Brad Evans (left) and Sikandar Raza were not enough to take Zimbabwe over the line in the last ODI against about batsmen in the limited-over formats
When Brad Evans was brought to the India on Monday. Pic: Zimbabwe Cricket of world cricket in the wake of his scintil-
presser to speak about his record five-wick-
et haul in the last ODI on Monday, Press during India’s sensational Test series win for Zimbabwe “only three or four guys” it started, it’s something I’ve always wanted lating form for his adopted country.
corps were keen on the story behind the And like Raza, you feel like Evans has
25-year-old rookie pacer after he became away to Australia last year. contribute meaningfully. to do. So I’ll keep working hard and try to walked into this environment of interna-
only the third Zimbabwean bowler to For good measure, Evans even brought Indirect dig at his own team-mates you get there one day.” tional cricket and discovered that no mat-
take a five-for against India, following to the Press conference a signed shirt of could say, but I would like to call it a ter who you are, no matter the opponent,
in the footsteps of the legendary pair of Gill, which the prolific man-of-the-series blunt group evaluation that can only it is all about the attitude once one is out
Heath Streak and Eddo Brandes who both was only too happy to hand over after a be good for this team going forward as on the park.
achieved the feat 25 years ago. special request by the Zimbabwe newcom- signs of a turnaround continue to show. HawkZone You get a sense from the conversation
er. But as much as Evans was awestruck by
A formal question-and-answer session Evans was not done, adding this as a with Evans on Monday that new as he is
that started rather tensely for the young sharing an international cricket field with parting shot: in the team, inside this bright prospect is
all-rounder — understandably so for a his idol, which would have been unthink- “I play cricket because I believe I can a burning frustration that not all 11 men
novice who had never been put in front of able for him just a few months ago, he was
probing reporters before — turned into a
refreshingly pleasant off-the-cuff chat once Enockstill aware of his own worth and that of his
Evans relaxed and got into the groove. ALpoSflafeyOrincgrIiNcifkSeItIdsDiodmEn’tethbienligeF.vieInIwaconouucldledn’tMwbineinisty wipes out $3.2 Billion depositoathrreesasabfmuleentotdimpsuesihn tthheemcZosleiolmvuerss'stooflaZthitmeelbsimatbiwtlaaetn. d c
Muchinjoteam.
For example, he spoke about how won- games for Zimbabwe and take my name But such a positive attitude does give a
derful it felt to be in the illustrious com- “These guys might be superstars, but outside Zimbabwe into the T20 games glimmer of hope for the future.
pany of Streak and Brandes, who he had they are human,” boldly remarked Evans, and stuff like that. I still don’t think I Once the players themselves start seeing
learnt a lot from growing up as the two adding his conviction that the Zimbabwe have delivered my best performance yet. things through self-reflecting lens like this,
ex-national team bowling aces were friends side was “at par” with the Asian giants. So being able to do this, knowing that I’ve As he spoke on, one could not mistake and demanding high standards of each
of his father, former Zimbabwe batsman The only difference, he stated further, got more in the tank, is huge. I want to the fire in Evans’ eyes. For me it was hardly other in the dressing-room, it is a starting
Craig Evans. was that the other teams like India “con- take my cricket as far as possible. If that surprising, for in front of us was not just point in the long walk to where this Zim-
tributed throughout (the innings)” while means IPL, it means a dream I’ve had since a young newcomer, but a fierce fighter babwe side should to be.
Evans added how “really cool” it was to
finally play against Shubman Gill, reveal-
ing without shame being a big fan of the
Indian batting prodigy, who he had only
previously watched on TV in the IPL and

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