Zimbabwe's qualification for the Super 12s is the culmination of a seven-year journey back from the brink of insolvency ©Getty
On a gloomy March evening in 2018, Zimbabwe's players sat in the dressing room at Harare Sports Club and wept. Such a show of emotion was uncommon, even in a group that had been together for a long time, but sometimes there are events in life that break down our usual barriers and Zimbabwe's defeat to the UAE in a rain-affected game was this kind of moment.
There were various factors that made the heartbreak of failing to qualify for the 2019 World Cup all the more acute. Chief among them was the recognition that a generation of players who had built up a significant base of experience were unlikely to see another World Cup. But another one was that Zimbabwe had thrown everything they had at qualification - luring two of their best players out of Kolpak contracts in England and convincing the ICC that they were capable of staging the Qualifiers - but ultimately had to face the fact that they had fallen to, or even below, the level of the Associates.
Four and a half years later, it may be too early to say that Zimbabwe have risen above that station - even after victories over Ireland and Scotland saw them through to the second round of the T20 World Cup for the first time (an achievement a little less notable for the fact that the Super 10s have been expanded to Super 12s). But it does offer a moment to reflect on their progress in a period where their absence from global tournaments allowed the rest of the world to forget them, and note the gains that have been made.
The seeds for a revival actually pre-dated that 2018 moment by almost three years. It was August 2015 when Tavengwa Mukuhlani made an unexpected return to the Zimbabwe Cricket board as its chairman. Coming after years of seedy backroom politics within the game, and with the organisation in debt to the tune of $27million, his arrival was not met with optimism and questions around his intentions would linger for years to come. But Mukuhlani had identified ZC's biggest issue and was determined to resolve it.
Any old fool could have told you that ZC's multi-million dollar debt with local banks at extraordinarily high interest rates was bleeding the game dry. Any income from the ICC or broadcast rights was servicing the interest without reducing the debt, and wasn't leaving enough for a functional cricket system. Given that ZC's previous administrators had links to one of the banks that was benefiting most from the arrangement, it was dubious whether there was any real desire to solve the issue. But Mukuhlani came without that conflicted relationship and would prove that he meant well for the game.
Over time, this showed up in improved relationships with other members at the ICC, and an ability to persuade the Zimbabwe government to take over some of the loans at vastly more favourable interest rates. None of this was easy. When Robert Mugabe was overthrown as Zimbabwe's president in 2017, the government that ZC had negotiated support from went with him. Mukuhlani would spend hours, even days, sitting in the waiting rooms of state offices to gain an audience with the new government. He also needed to convince the ICC that Zimbabwe was safe enough to host the 2018 Qualifiers just five months after a military coup.
All of these efforts came to fruition in the middle of 2020, when
