The Sunday News
NEWLY appointed Zimbabwe senior national cricket team captain Hamilton Masakadza has expressed his delight after finally getting the recognition.
Masakadza was on Friday announced by Zimbabwe Cricket as the new leader of the national team in all the three formats of the game with leg spinner Graeme Cremer named as his deputy.
Up until Masakadza’s appointment, ZC had not named a Test captain since Brendan Taylor quit international cricket to take up a Kolpak deal with English county cricket side Nottinghamshire in March last year.
Elton Chigumbura, who resigned at the conclusion of the four Twenty20 Internationals against Bangladesh over a week ago, was the limited overs captain.
In an interview a few hours after his appointment, Masakadza, an international cricketer since 2001 said he thought the captaincy had evaded him as he had led the team in all the three formats on a couple of occasions without being handed the task on a fulltime basis.
He only captained the Test side once at Harare Sports Club against Pakistan in 2013 when Taylor had taken paternity leave ahead of the birth of his child and recently led the team in two of the four T20Is against Bangladesh when Chigumbura was dropped.
“It is very exciting, because it is a big honour to lead your country. It is an exciting challenge I am looking forward to. I was not exactly expecting this, I didn’t think I was going to be one of the front runners.
“I have been waiting for my turn for such a long time, I never thought it was going to come, I thought it had evaded me,’’ said an elated Masakadza.
With Zimbabwe not playing well on the international scene, Masakadza knows the task of captaining his country will not be an easy one.
Dropped from the national team in October last year for poor form, the veteran fought his way back to be recalled for the limited overs contests against Afghanistan in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates at the end of last year. At the age of 32, Masakadza believes he still has a lot to offer at international level with his eyes firmly set on the 2019 International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup to be staged in England.
“I never for a moment thought my career was over, I still have a lot in me. I still have a few years, at the moment I want to play through to the next 50 over World Cup,’’ he said.
His superb form with the bat in the four T20Is against Bangladesh seems to have played a huge part in him getting the captaincy. Masakadza scored 222 runs including a career best 93 runs not out, a feat that inspired Zimbabwe to come from 2-0 down to end the series 2-2 against the Tigers.
On Zimbabwe’s chances at the ICC World Twenty20 to be held in India from 8 March to 3 April, the new captain, part of the Zimbabwean team which was knocked out in the preliminary stage of the competition in Bangladesh, is upbeat about the team’s fortunes this time around. He is aware that their biggest obstacle in the preliminary round is Afghanistan who have won all the four recent matches between the two teams in the shortest format of the game.
“The main thing for us to qualify for the group stage, the last tournament we failed to qualify. The team has been playing good cricket of late, our biggest hurdle is Afghanistan. We have to do something to come right against them,’’ said Masakadza.
