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Still Batting On A Minefield



OZIAS BVUTE, the Zimbabwe Cricket Managing Director, is a man who sharply divides opinion around the world. His critics speak of an Iron Man, a hard-hearted individual who has little room for emotions and rarely forgives those who might have crossed his path. But, in the second and final part of this wide-ranging interview with ROBSON SHARUKO, we discover a man with a soft spot — who almost cried for Mark Vermeulen — and considers the cricketer, who was a thorn in the flesh of the ZC administrators, his hero. Bvute speaks about the youth structures, the general state of the administration of the game in Zimbabwe and the future of the sport.

ROBSON SHARUKO: What is the state of the youth structures of our game? The emerging talent that could explode on the scene in a few years time?

OZIAS BVUTE: When Andrew Waller asked me about what the state of youth cricket in Zimbabwe, I told him that the cricketers were falling out of the sky like mangoes would fall out of the trees in the wet season.

Cricket has become the catch phrase and I want to attribute two things to that.

Negative or positive, all the coverage that we have got over time has firmly placed cricket in the national conscience. Eight or nine years ago, the average man on the street did not have a clear cricket conscience and neither did they know what cricket was all about.

I am confident, that from Luveve to Dangamvura to Highfield, Borrowdale to Ascot, cricket is now the in thing. People acknowledge and embrace it as an alternative sport to soccer and alternative career, they are enjoying it and a new culture is being developed here.

I am sure that when the metamorphosis finally reaches its end, we will have a cricketing culture as distinct and unique as that in India or the West Indies.

But to answer your question more specifically, a wealth of talent abounds. We have teams from Under 13 to Under19 level and a woman’s national team, all of which are continuously in development. This pipeline will continue to produce stronger players as a lot more people begin to participate.

Look at what we have managed to produce under difficult circumstances; wonderful players like Elton Chigumbura who came from humble backgrounds but today hold their place in the world. There are plenty others just like him who are waiting to be given that opportunity to take their place under the sun.

RS: Can you say that the administrative side of the game has now been sorted out for good and the focus is now on getting the improvement in the results on the field?

OB: Cricket has always been and will continue to be professionally run .Our offices and structures are manned by highly capable people, who have dedicated their lives in making cricket work, therefore there has never been any problem with the administration of the game. The board and administrators who are at ZC have always been committed to the growth and development of cricket. We are all -old, new and returning – firmly focused on creating a winning team that is truly representative.

The focus on our part has never been politics, or power, or race; at the end of the day this is a sport, one that is open to everyone, regardless of the factors that I have spoken about.

I was astounded during a joint interview with the ZC board chairman, Peter Chingoka in London about four or five years ago, when a reporter from the Times of England asked me which political party I belonged to.

It is not about political affiliation but about participation.

Participation that ultimately allows for us to produce the best team to walk onto the field; that will allow for each and every Zimbabwean who is a supporter of cricket to either tune into their television sets or come en masse to our various stadiums and support and shout, "Go Zimbabwe Go!"

RS: What have been your highlights in the administration of the game, the low points and anything that you could probably have done different given a choice?

OB: It has been a tumultuous journey to say the least, but every so often something happens that makes it all worth it.

One of my most touching moments and one that I will cherish for many years to come is when Mark Vermuelen made a hundred at Bulawayo during the Bangladesh Series this year, and at the end of the match he attended a press conference and at the end of it asked the journalists if he could say a few words.

His words were that he wanted to thank his parents and ZC for standing by him during the difficult time he had undergone and for giving him a second chance to do the one thing that he was most passionate about in life and that was to play cricket.

This touched my heart.

You will recall that at some stage, Mark went through a difficult patch which culminated in his trying to burn down two of our buildings and succeeding to do so on one of them.

I thought the most important principle there was that as a board and an administration, we had found it in ourselves to forgive him. We have been accused of many things, from vindictiveness, to being thieves to being thugs.

But ultimately, the human spirit exhibited by Mark, where one who is at their lowest point, reaches out, is accepted, and goes on to excel, is the principle that we have embedded in to our ethos at ZC. Mark is a true hero and he will continue to play a pivotal role in the growth of Zimbabwe’s cricket.

From a playing perspective it’s always painful when a team you know has so much potential and talent does not do as well as you expect. Recently we were bowled out by Sri Lanka for a low score. This should not have happened, our team is better than that. Moments like that are often difficult to comprehend but again, the human spirit is such that you move on to fight another day and our boys can only get better.

RS. Do you have any regrets and is that why you have gone the franchise route?

OB: I do have regrets but ultimately, history teaches you to be a better person for tomorrow. As we move forward I am confident that we are doing so with a clear understanding that we want to make our structures better.

We have embarked on Franchise cricket in-order to ensure that the game becomes the number one sport of choice in Zimbabwe.

We looked at the soccer model and realized that you needed franchises that were independent of the mother bodies in order to run the local game and compete against each other. We hope that in creating these independent franchises we have created a platform that will make cricket better.

RS. So the franchise system is not about atonement?

OB: No, it is about trying to find a model that allows for cricket in Zimbabwe to be better, it’s about looking around the world and seeing what best practice is and trying to adapt it to our environment so that we achieve the same level over time.

I am confident that in a few years time the Mashonaland Eagles, Matabeleland Tuskers, Mountaineers, Southern Rocks and Midwest Rhinos will all be teams that people have an association with, an affinity to and ultimately teams that they support.

ZC was everything to everyone, from paying the grounds-men at the various schools, to looking after the cleaner at the academy house, the cricket manager in Mutare, to the coach in Kwekwe. Through this franchise system we are saying no, we as ZC are going to move forward to what our rightful role should be , which is to be the governing body of the sport of cricket that dictates and determines policy on a day to day basis. That is the platform that we have now created.

You may not know this but we employ over 250 people. What we are saying now is that it is not our sole responsibility to employ all these people, it is the responsibility of the decentralized units to grow their sport and make sure that these people fit in the national cog of ensuring that we have a national team that will do well.

RS:What is the state of our relationship with the other members of the international cricket family right now?

OB: Our relations are very cordial. We receive a significant amount of support from a number of countries. We have an administrator exchange programme with Cricket Australia (CA) where our head administrators go on a yearly basis and glean from how they run their organisation, they have offered us various coaching scholarships where a number of coaches gain certification; Walter Chawaguta was one such beneficiary. Also players have benefited from the CA programme.

We have warm bilateral relations with Cricket South Africa where we are currently working on a new memorandum of understanding which will determine how the relationship will be governed over the next five years with the sole intention of strengthening ZC.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has been kind enough to allow us to participate in some of their domestic competitions for which we are most grateful.

I have only mentioned those with whom we have some form of direct partnership with but we have very cordial relations with all the others and over time these will get even better.

RS: When do you see us making a return to Test cricket?

OB: As you know, the road map to Test cricket has been clearly mapped out by the Cricket Committee which is chaired by the very able Alistair Campbell. Alistair has said that we want to be back in the next 24 months, so we are targeting a return in the next 24 months, based on the preparatory work which we are currently doing which involves – playing a lot more four-day cricket, getting some of the younger players exposed through the Inter-Continental Cup, playing franchise cricket and, ultimately, beginning to post the results that show we are making progress.

RS: Thanks for speaking to us OB and all the best in the future.

OB: Thanks Robson.

We all know that he and Chinkonya together nearly destroyed Zimbabwe cricket but to be fair to him he does seem to be trying to move forward but whatever happens i will never trust him!!!!!