Zimbabwean journalist fires back after global backlash over 'recovering alcoholic' article on Mooney

The Zimbabwean journalist, whose article caused a worldwide outrage from the cricketing fraternity, compelled the Zimbabwe captain to apologize and led to Ireland cricket authorities pursuing legal action, has not been disheartened by the backlash over his distasteful article and has instead inexplicably fired back at his critics.

Zimbabwean Herald journalist Robson Sharuko has inexplicably fired back over the backlash on his article, writing a retort to the global condemnation of his 'recovering alcoholic' article over Ireland's John Mooney.

Sharuko had penned a vicious piece in the wake of Zimbabwe's World Cup loss to Ireland, in which Irish all-rounder Mooney claimed a key, controversial catch with his foot close to the boundary rope, Fox Sports reported.

Sharuko claimed that Mooney had cheated, taking his article way beyond the line of reasonable criticism by questioning whether the Irish player could be considered trustworthy given his battle with alcoholism and depression -issues which the all-rounder has bravely raised in public.

The article caused a widespread backlash but Sharuko continues to defend himself, with a follow-up piece.

The follow-up piece from Sharuko states that the dramatic fallout related to Ireland's controversial win over Zimbabwe continued to play out with Irish cricket authorities launching a vicious attack on the Herald for questioning all-rounder Mooney's honesty in the wake of his ghost catch that knocked the Chevrons out of the World Cup.

The article went on to compare the catch to Diego Maradona's 'Hand Of God' goal and claimed that there was worldwide outrage over Mooney's catch. It also reiterated the imputations made in the original article.

Sharuko, who at one point was given a life ban by the Zimbabwe Football Association in relation to match fixing, only to have the sanction overturned by FIFA, might be kicked out of the World Cup and banned from future ICC tournaments, the report added.