Love kept Carl going

WHEN Carl Mumba was down with a knee injury love kept him on his feet.

Mumba damaged his knee ligaments while bowling during Zimbabwe’s tour of Sri Lanka in July last year and had to undergo surgery.

It was a crushing period for the rising bowler whose nascent career had showed promise in his two Tests and two ODIs.

But the power of love helped ease off the pain in the knee as well as missing out on international cricket during the nine months he was grounded. Mumba, who is now back in training, ZC chairman Tawanda Mukhulani and his crew.

Certainly an organisation that seems obsessed sidelining its senior players and threatens to withdraw accreditation of journalists who are critical of it deserves little sympathy.

An organisation that fires the entire technical team, following a doomed World Cup qualifying campaign, but then fails to get a permanent credits his girlfriend for keeping him believing that brighter days were coming.

“I am through the nine months of rehabilitation,” Mumba told The Sunday Mail Sport during a training session with his Rising Stars coach Stuart Matsikenyeri at Harare Sports Club last week.

“It wasn’t easy to be honest, being out for such a long time always thinking is everything going to be the same, are you going to be the same player when you get back. There is so much to worry about during such times. replacement is at best a joke.

But that’s a bone that can be chewed into another day, one that can be indulged in as soon as the game at Queen Sports Club ends.

For today all we can do is hope that our team will not get another chastening. Hope that Hamilton Masakadza, who overtook Grant Flower as Zimbabwe’s most capped international player when he played

“I worked hard every day going through the phases of the recovery, keeping positive people around me... coach Stuey (Matsikenyeri) helped me through it the most.”

The 23-year old also got support away from the field of play.

“Family and friends played a big role especially my girlfriend Tafadzwa Machingura. Now I’m working on being bowling fit and match fit,” added Mumba.

Mumba, who made his international debut against Sri Lanka on October 29 in 2016 at Harare Sports Club, can crank up speeds of 140km/hr. his 289th match on Friday, can put together a skipper’s knock.

Hope that Elton Chigumbura plays like a veteran who has been given a second chance.

Hope that our bowlers will take some wickets.

Hope that the real Zimbabwe cricket team, and not the fraudsters we saw during the first four ODI’s, will pitch up at Queens Sports Club.