Sports

Memories of Zimbabwe 2004

Published

4 years ago

2022/04/10

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe greets England captain Mike Atherton at the Harare Sports Club. Mugabe’s Presidential Palace was right next to the cricket ground.

by Rex Clementine

There are many good things about writing for The Island and one of them is that you get to see every game that Sri Lanka plays at home, every Test match they play overseas and all major ICC events. One of those memorable tours was Zimbabwe 2004. On the cricket field, Sri Lanka whitewashed Zimbabwe and Murali claimed the World Record for the first time breaking Courtney Walsh’s record for most wickets in Tests. Off the field, the Sri Lankan reporters had a firsthand experience of the plight of Zimbabwe people due to poverty, high inflation, unemployment, shrinking foreign reserves, power cuts and food shortage. Something similar to what we are experiencing back home at present.

It must be said that 18 years ago we never expected to get a taste of Zimbabwe’s medicine in our backyard one day.

It was a six week tour. What was really saddening to note was the high inflation and as a result devaluation of currency. When we landed in Harare, the exchange rate was for one US Dollar you got 4500 Zimbabwe Dollars. By the time the tour was over, after 40 days, the exchange rate was for one US Dollar 5200 Zimbabwe Dollars! The currency had no value. If you went to a bank to cash 100 US$, you had to carry a bag as you would get vast amount of money. Money of little use.

Last month, when we went to India, the exchange rate was for one Indian Rupee we paid 2.6 Sri Lankan Rupees. Three weeks later, by the time the tour was over, it had gone up by massive scales as we had to pay 3.6 Sri Lankan Rupees for one Indian Rupee. Today, one INR is equal to 4:15 LKR! All of it happening in a matter of one month. It’s really scary to think of returning to India in December for the ODI leg of the tour.

Coming back to Zimbabwe, like Sri Lanka, it’s a beautiful country. Their main sources of income are agriculture and tourism with the stunning Victoria Falls being the star attraction. We had booked the train to get there. But when we reached the station we were informed that the train had been cancelled due to shortage of fuel. Eventually, we made it to the falls thanks to a Sri Lankan Doctor practicing in Harare by the name of Anion Anthony. He drove us all the way to Victoria Falls. Eventually, as the country’s situation worsened he migrated to New Zealand.

There were protests all across Zimbabwe especially in the main cities of Harare and Bulawayo. President Robert Mugabe ruled with an iron fist. The cricket board chief was one of his buddies, Peter Chingoka. There was this press conference in Harare where a journalist writing for AFP by the name of John Kelly asked some uncomfortable questions. Chingoka literally threatened the journalist to withdraw his question or face the consequences. Poor Kelly had little choice. Chingoka, a chain smoker, died a few years ago. Haven’t heard from Kelly in a while.

President Mugabe’s ill advised policies were a major reason for crashing of Zimbabwe economy. So what did he actually do? Well, he just ordered acres of farm land owned by whites to be distributed among the majority blacks. Eventually, the blacks had the lands but they did not have the knowledge on agriculture or how to handle equipment. It should have been probably done over a period of time. Not overnight. The whites migrated in vast numbers and there were massive food shortage. There were sanctions imposed by western countries and the economy crashed faster than Zimbabwe’s cricket team.

Mugabe’s palace was right next to the Harare Sports Club. That’s where Murali broke the World Record. We would get off the taxi and walk to the ground with the Presidential Palace just opposite us. It was heavily guarded and photographs or loitering was not allowed.

In order to discourage journalists from coming to Zimbabwe, Mugabe had a strange rule. Although we had accreditation from the Zimbabwe Cricket Board, every reporter had to register with the Media Ministry and obtain a pass. For which we had to pay a princely sum of US$ 250 each! You were issued the pass provided you signed a document assuring that you didn’t write anything bad about the political developments in the country. Some journalists got into trouble like Mihir Bose, the BBC Sports Editor, who had flown to Zimbabwe to report Murali breaking the World Record. They had kept a close eye on what he had been reporting. Security forces visited his hotel room and deported him. Pretty scary scenes.

The military in Zimbabwe was powerful. Government servants were often corrupt.

Mugabe and his wife Grace were accused of embezzling the country’s wealth. There were allegations that he had secret accounts in Switzerland and castles in Scotland. Their children lived extravagant lives while the rest of the country was starving.

Most of Mugabe’s travel within the country was done in helicopters. It was a frequent sight from the press box to see helicopters flying over us. Not just one at a time but three due to security reasons.

Soon after Sri Lanka finished their tour, Australia landed in Zimbabwe. However, the tour was cancelled as the Australian government had concerns about human rights violations in the country. It was very strange for a cricket team to arrive in a country and fly back home without playing a single game.

Despite the anger and frustration among the locals, Zimbabweans were peaceful people and never did we witness or read about violence or crime. It was a beautiful, clean country and had superb infrastructure. Every local we met from the taxi drivers to security guards spoke perfect English.

Mugabe’s power hunger saw the country from being the granary of Africa becoming one of the poorest in the world.

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Sports

Time to close the Dickwella chapter

Published

22 hours ago

2025/12/28

Thilina Walpola

Niroshan Dickwella

Sri Lanka’s selectors have a long history of springing surprises that leave the public blinking in disbelief. Some in the present generation may find it hard to imagine that in 1968, three members of the national selection panel picked themselves for a tour of England, dumping popular Ceylon captain Michael Tissera in the process. All hell broke loose. Chandra Schaffter resigned in protest, calling out an unprecedented farce. The government stepped in, introduced the Sports Act and mandated that every national team required Sports Ministry approval — a necessary set of checks and balances to stop cricket from becoming a self-selecting club.

Fast forward to 2025 and the preliminary squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup has once again raised eyebrows. Dasun Shanaka, who not too long ago was struggling to hold onto his place, is now Sri Lanka’s captain. You can just about live with that call. After Charith Asalanka’s excesses in Pakistan, his position as skipper had become untenable, and Shanaka emerged as a Hobson’s choice. But the bigger takeaway is damning: Sri Lanka have done a poor job grooming leaders over the past five years. When Plan A collapses, there is no Plan B and the selectors are left scrambling.

What truly stopped people in their tracks, however, was news that Niroshan Dickwella is closing in on a comeback. That alone suggested the selectors care two hoots about public sentiment.

We have seen enough of Dickwella over more than a decade. The wicketkeeper-batter showed us his ceiling and his limitations. Having been discarded, there is little logic in reopening that chapter.

With Kusal Mendis doing a commendable job behind the stumps in white-ball cricket, there is no need to get carried away with Dickwella’s inclusion, especially when backups like Kusal Janith Perera and Kamil Mishara are waiting in the wings. What the selectors owe the public is an explanation: why exactly was Dickwella needed in the preliminary squad?

Instead, they could have tipped the cap to an up-and-coming player and signalled a shift towards the future. Sri Lanka have moved on from Dickwella; there is no point dragging the past back to the crease.

After 54 Test matches, the absence of a single hundred tells its own story. Dickwella had ample chances to break three figures but repeatedly threw his wicket away, reinforcing the impression of a player who often seemed to play without a care. Talent alone doesn’t win matches; temperament does.

Some may argue that Test numbers are irrelevant in the T20 format. Fair point, except that T20s are where Dickwella has struggled the most. Clearing the ropes has never been his strength. Yes, his sweeps and reverse sweeps allow him to milk spinners, but the negatives far outweigh the positives. With Kusal Mendis as wicketkeeper, Sri Lanka’s DRS record has been impressive; with Dickwella behind the stumps, it has been downright horrendous.

More worrying is the distraction Dickwella brings to the dressing room. The selectors should have learnt their lesson after the bio-bubble breach in England, which saw him sent home along with two others. A retired judge who conducted the inquiry recommended a one-year ban, only for authorities to play soft hands and reduce it to barely three months.

If that wasn’t enough, alarm bells should have rung louder when he was appointed captain of a Lanka Premier League side, only for it to emerge that he had tested positive for drugs in August last year, earning another suspension. That should have been the last straw.

Yet, remarkably, Dickwella keeps finding his way back into the frame.

At some point, authorities must draw a firm line. The game is not short of talent, but it is short of accountability. And until selectors learn to value both, the same old mistakes will keep being replayed, like a bad highlight reel no one wants to watch again.

by Rex Clementine ✍️

Latest News

India’s chance to test themselves and their bench strength

Published

1 day ago

2025/12/27

Priyan

Shafali Verma has made 157 runs in three innings and has only been dismissed once in this series [BCCI]

All the three games in this series have followed a similar pattern so far. India have won three tosses – yup, you read that right – elected to bowl, and then used dew to their advantage to chase down modest totals unchallenged.

With a T20 World Cup around the corner, and an unassailable 3-0 lead in their pocket, it would be prudent for India to start challenging themselves and look to set totals if their luck with the toss continues.

They’d also want to perhaps find a way to expand their squad depth a bit more – the lower-order firepower seemed lacking in the 2024 tournament. G Kamalini brings with her the same big-hitting promise Richa Ghosh did as a teenager in 2020. Maybe it’s time to unleash her?

For Sri Lanka, simply being able to challenge India for long enough has been quite a task. They continue to be heavily reliant on Chamari Athapaththu – it’s a bit like how Mithali Raj carried India’s batting for nearly a decade before Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur took centre stage.

Sri Lanka continue to mix and match to find their own versions of Mandhana and Harmanpreet and, while there has been promise here and there, consistent performers have been hard to find.

After Radha Yadav, Tanuja Kanwar, Saika Ishaque and N Shree Charani, 20-year-old Yaishnavi Sharma is the latest to break into India’s left-arm spin club. But, she’s the only one among the five to do so without the WPL giving her a leg up. Vaishnavi finished as the leading wicket-taker in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy with 21 wickets in 11 matches at an economy rate of 6.47. She backed it up in the inter-zonal tournament and again in these three games against Sri Lanka. Her composure has been striking. So too the courage to keep tossing the ball up.

When Sri Lanka stunned India to win last year’s Asia Cup final, top-scorer Harshitha Samarawickrema seemed a player of immense promise. But in the 17 months since, such moments have been rare. Coach Rumesh Ratnayake continues to back her and believes a turnaround is imminent, and she’ll be keen to repay the faith. Since the start of the T20 World Cup in the UAE last year, she is yet to score a half century in nine innings.

With a T20 World Cup just six months away, this is India’s chance to expand their talent pool and to that end, they may want to bring 17-year-old wicketkeeper Kamalini into the mix and see what she can do.

India (probable): Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Richa Ghosh/ G Kamalini (wk), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Renuka Singh/Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Shree Charani

As a response to their batting needing more support, Sri Lanka made three changes in the last game and ended up posting just 112. There may be more changes on Sunday.

Sri Lanka (probable): Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Hasini Perera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Imesha Dulani, Nilakshika Silva, Kaushini Nuthyangana (wk), Kavisha Dilhari, Malki Madara, Inoka Ranaweera, Malsha Snehani, Nimasha Meepage

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

Wobbly England register first Test win in Australia in 15 years

Published

1 day ago

2025/12/27

Priyan

Jacob Bethell scored 40 in a chase of 175 [Cricinfo]

For the first time in 19 matches, and nearly 15 years, England’s men experienced a Test victory in Australia as the MCG raced to the second two-day finish of the Ashes series. On a tough surface which will continue to come under the spotlight in the aftermath, England’s top order met their target of 175 with aggression and they eventually got home with four wickets in hand.

It was only the fifth time in Test history that a series had included multiple two-day finishes, and before this summer, there had only been two in history in Australia. Although more than 186,000 had attended the match across two record-breaking days, it left Cricket Australia facing another significant financial loss – the Ashes has proved a costly affair, and Ben Stokes acknowledged it was far from ideal, but England have avoided the risk of another whitewash down under.

Jacob Bethell who was recalled for this match, compiled 40 to give a glimpse at his potential, but his dismissal meant this would be the first Test in Australia without an individual half-century since 1932 and just the fifth overall. Bethell’s wicket was followed by a little wobble with the winning line in sight. Joe Root was lbw to Jhye Richardson and Stokes carved an edge off Mitchell Starc with ten need, but four leg byes finished the job to roars from the travelling support, although more muted celebrations from England.

Australia, who had earned a first-innings lead of 42 on the manic opening day which brought 20 wickets, could only manage 132 the second time around as Stokes and Brydon Carse shared seven wickets, while Josh Tongue added two more to his impressive match tally. It meant they were able to overcome the loss of Gus Atkinson to a hamstring injury early in the day.

Still, the target was comfortably the highest total of the match. But the intent from Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett was clear and they wiped off 51 inside seven overs. Duckett pinged Starc through the leg side first ball and Crawley launched Michael Neser down the ground in his first over to set the tone. Starc produced some gems, especially to Duckett, and came within fingertips of getting to a return catch from a leading edge.

Tellingly, though, the first ball that Alex Carey came up to the stumps against Neser, Crawley launched him straight down the ground for six and followed that with a blazing drive through the covers. Duckett also took on Neser, a top-edged hoick flying to deep third and then, most stunningly, a scoop going for six. Perhaps there was life in Bazball, after all.

The ball after Duckett cracked his fourth boundary behind point, Starc speared a full delivery through him, but the openers had shifted the mood. England pulled a trick, promoting Carse to No. 3, but he sliced down to deep third, which opened the door for Bethell to play what could prove a significant innings.

Bethell got away with a leading edge first ball, then drove Scott Boland confidently down the ground. He started the final session by reverse-scoping Boland over Carey, then nailed a cover drive.

Boland, who curiously had not been introduced until the 11th over by when England already had 70 on the board, conjured thoughts of another MCG burst from him when he trapped Crawley lbw and had Bethell caught at cover, but Australia didn’t have quite enough runs to play with.

Australia had resumed one over into their second innings with Boland having survived amid heady scenes the night before. He hung around for five more overs before Atkinson found the outside edge to remove a potential frustration for England. However, Atkinson’s day – and potentially series – was soon done when he walked off holding his hamstring at the end of his fifth over, leaving three frontline quicks.

The captain took on the task, Stokes striking in his first over when Jake Weatherald misjudged a delivery from around the wicket which he left alone at the last moment and was bowled. After his excellent first innings in Brisbane, returns have been lean for Weatherald, who faces a big outing in Sydney next week before Australia’s lengthy gap in Test cricket.

By now, the pitch was offering some uneven bounce as well as sideways movement. Marnus Labuschagne took two blows on the gloves before being drawn into poking outside off stump, edging to first slip in a manner that suggests his game is still not in top working order, although conditions provided some caveat.

Travis Head was playing as well as anyone had all game, latching onto anything loose but not breaking into the full-blown attack seen in the second innings in Perth. However, even someone who had survived more than an hour and a half could do nothing about the delivery from Carse, which jagged off the seam to take the top of off stump.

Three balls later, Usman Khawaja top-edged a well-directed short ball from Tongue to long leg. There was no rescue act from Carey this time as he steered a delivery to second slip, where England’s catching continued to be secure.

Either side of lunch, Steven Smith and Cameron Green held firm for nine overs, adding 31 runs, to tip the balance once again. Without ever looking entirely secure, Green again got himself set, as he had in the first innings before running himself out, but flashed an edge to second slip when he drove at a short delivery.

In the absence of Atkinson, Carse lifted impressively and clutched a sharp return catch, full stretch to his left, to remove Neser. Then, with the seventh delivery of the over after a no-ball, he had Starc edging to slip.

Smith showed no inclination to shield No. 11 Richardson (who has a first-class average of 20.70) and a crunched straight drive suggested it was a fair call, but Richardson carved Stokes into the off side to leave England with their target. The pubs, golf courses and Boxing Day sales around Melbourne could get an unexpected boost.

Brief scores:
England 110 in 29.5 overs (Harry Brook 41; Michael Neser 4-45, Scott Boland 3-30, Mitchell Starc 2-23) and 178 for 6 in 32.2 overs (Zak Crawley 37, Ben Duckett 34, Jacob Bethell 40; Mitchell Starc 2-55, Jhye Richardson 2-22, Scott Boland 2-29) beat Australia 152 in 45.2 overs (Michael Neser 35; Josh Tongue 5-45, Gus Atkinson 2-28) and 132 in 34.3 overs (Travis Head 46; Brydon Carse 4-34, Ben Stokes 3-24) by four wickets

[Cricinfo]