Heal the wounds

Zimbabwean cricket’s journey to redemption may have just begun.

Sometimes a man’s journey through life mirrors the journey of a country. This is not one of those times. This is merely a man’s life becoming a parable for his cricket team, though there are, inevitably, glimpses from the life of the country.

“I left home and tried to live the life of a hermit, but I was still fighting myself. I went to England and worked as a chainman on the road. It was better therapy than the shrinks. Building a two-mile road gave me internal peace, but I still hadn’t made peace with my country.” That is former Zimbabwe player Bryan Strang, 38 years old now, talking about what he has been up to since quitting international cricket six years ago.

 

In the interim, he became addicted to alcohol and anti-depressants as he tried to cope with repeated imprisonment for campaigning against Robert Mugabe’s Zanu party. Now, he is a devout Buddhist. “I started reading the Bhagavad Gita and the words made so much sense to me. This was exactly what I had been craving all my life. I have come back to spread the message of love and heal wounds.”

Many wounds were healed by Zimbabwe’s showing in the recent one-day international tri-series in which the team, for the first time, beat India in back-to-back ODIs and also defeated Sri Lanka. That marks a sort of revival for the team, which has been in the doldrums since its top players were evicted or persecuted — some of them seeking asylum abroad — at the same time that Strang’s international career was drawing to a close.

As important as the wins was the composition of the team: a mix of black and white players. Reports say the grounds were not packed, but many of the matches were played on weekdays and not many in Zimbabwe can afford to forgo a day’s wages to watch sport. Still, there were bigger crowds than seen in recent times and, presumably, many more on television. Cricket in Zimbabwe is no longer just a white occupation.

Both the journeys seem to have come full circle. Strang wanted to be a monk in the Himalayas before he became fascinated with cricket. Back in Zimbabwe two years ago, he teaches yoga and spirituality in Harare and gives his designation as “Sri Krishna”. Zimbabwe, which entered international cricket in the 1983 World Cup with a splash by beating formidable Australia, is again presenting a challenge to the top teams.

However, while Strang seems to be at peace again, Zimbabwe cricket’s journey to redemption may have just begun. Heartening as its showing was in the tri-series, both India and Sri Lanka had fielded second-string teams. But the more telling part came from Harbhajan Singh. The seemingly happy-go-lucky spinner revealed shock at the state of the Zimbabwe team’s equipment during the World Twenty20. “Some of their top-order batsmen carried the type of bats usually used in school cricket,” he said. He has been pestering sponsors and manufacturers to get them to donate new kits for the national team. The time has come to heal the wounds of Zimbabwean cricket.

(suveen.sinha@bsmail.in)