Wenslus Murape
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
WHILE, on the surface, Chamunorwa Chibhabha’s retirement is likely to come as a shock, the keen observer among the Zimbabwe cricket family is likely to have seen it coming from a mile away!
After all, the former Zimbabwe international is now 38 and last played first-class cricket a year ago, almost to the day.
His last sojourn into international cricket was some 23 months ago during Ireland’s visit to Zimbabwe for a white-ball series during the 2022/2023 season.
Chibhabha has spent the last couple of months as a member of the Eagles backroom staff, doubling as an assistant coach and manager for the Harare Metropolitan-based cricket franchise.
“Basically, my job at the Mash Eagles is that I am the assistant coach and the manager,” he said.
“It started last year when I was a player/coach, but now I have begun to transition into the post-game.”
That he is now fully retired is a fact. But rather than take it on social media or announce some retirement tour, he took the most Chibhabha way to confirm arguably the worst-kept secret.
The 38-year-old introvert announced his retirement on a podcast.
“After playing for an ‘X’ amount of years, there was always going to come a time when I would have to call it quits,” he said.
“Now, I think this is the right time to start going through that transition from playing to coaching.”
As it pertains to actually calling it quits, the former Zimbabwe Chevrons’ skipper said: “Yeah, I am done.”
To truly capture the talent that is Chibhabha, one would have to grade the former Zimbabwe Chevrons skipper on a curve.
Fast-tracked into the national side back in 2005, after the departure of a slew of senior white players, he did not have the brightest starts to international cricket as he made a duck on debut against New Zealand and struggled in the Under-19 Afro-Asia Cup.
He did come good with back-to-back fifties in the opening matches of the tour of the Caribbean in 2006. Lack of consistency would dog him for the majority of his international career.
Chibhabha wraps up an almost two-decade-long cricketing career with a paltry five Tests, 175 runs and top score of 60 runs in format, which is hardly befitting of the promise his talent had.
In white-ball cricket, he played 109 One-Day Internationals (ODI) and just 36 T20s, during which he scored 2 474 and 667 runs.
Again, hardly befitting of his promise.
He also happens to hold a few distinctive records, chiefly being ninth on the list of most runs without a career hundred (2474), the honour of being dismissed for 99 runs and unusual dismissals (handled) in the ODI format.
He is also third on the list of most runs in a career without a hundred (combined Test, ODI and T20) and that is 3 316 runs.
But to his credit, Chibhabha has since come to claim ownership of some of his shortcomings.
“Cricket is a tough sport and you go through a lot of adversity,” he said.
“I have gone through my fair share of obstacles throughout the years, but all of them have built me into the man I am today. I have learnt a lot about discipline through this game, and also how to handle or deal with success.
“There are two ways to it. When you go through adversity, that is when your character is tested. And also, when you have a little bit of success, you are also tested as an individual.”
On wasting his potential, Chibhabha owned up to his mistakes and confessed that the year 2015 was a breakthrough for him, a former Zimbabwe all-rounder.
“I think, at the time I was going through a phase where I needed to change my life in the sense that I now had a baby, a wife and needed to take my life a bit more seriously,” he said.
“Before that, I had always been this relaxed guy and relied more on my talent carrying me through life.
“This is something that I regret when I look back at my career as I did not put in the work like I should have. But that is life; you make mistakes, learn and grow.”
He went on to note that when 2015 came, he made the decision to change his ways.
“I remember, my family was in the United Kingdom and decided to come back to
Zimbabwe and start putting in the work,” he said.
“I was staying with my cousin at the time, and we would wake up at 6am to go to the gym, later hit a couple of balls at the nets all day. That was my routine every day and we would stick to it even on match days. That was the reason I did so well during that period and it paid off,” he said.
Chibhabha then closed out the interview by paying tribute to two individuals who made an impact on his cricketing career.
These were his late mother and the late Maraini Tichivangana, popularly known as “Chirandu”, who worked as a groundsman at Takashinga Sports Club.
“Basically, most of my friends used to play cricket, but I was not involved yet,” he said, chronicling his origins story and the part his mother played.
‘What would happen was, I would spend a lot of my time at home. My mum would then ask ‘why I don’t join my friends’ and I soon
got into it (cricket) and started enjoying it,” he said.
“It was nice as it afforded me more time with my friends. Cricket also happens to be a sport easy to fall in love with once you get into it, and that is exactly what happened.”
Chibhabha would soon join Takashinga Cricket Club, where Chirandu worked for many years.
He sadly died late last year at the age of 85.
The former Zimbabwe skipper was fortunate enough to have spent some time with Chirandu, whom he described as a father figure during his formative years in the sport.
“When I started my cricket journey at a young age, I joined Takashinga and Chirandu was there,” he said.
“For the ground to be where it is right now, it was mostly him as he was the curator.
“So, I knew him for many years and he was always like a father figure to me, someone whom I knew from as early as when I was Under-10 level.
“Now, after so many years of playing first-class cricket, international cricket and travelling the world, I just felt it would be a good gesture to appreciate the man who helped me in that journey.
“He used to help prepare the facilities, the nets and the grounds. It is sad that he is late now. However, I am just grateful that I managed to do something for him and show my appreciation before it was too late.”
daniel chigunwe
