A Colourful Character, An Intelligent Performer

With the retirement of Henry Khaaba Olonga at 27, cricket has lost acolourful character, an intelligent performer, and one whose vision went beyondthe boundary. It is unlikely that he will return to Zimbabwe as long as RobertMugabe continues to be that country's strongman; Olonga has burnt his bridgeswith the kind of conviction that makes for heroes.

Long after Mugabe is gone, Olonga will be remembered for taking a standagainst corruption and human rights violations in his native land. "If Iwere to continue to play for Zimbabwe I would do so only by neglecting the voiceof my conscience," he has said.

"I would be condoning the grotesque human rights violations thatcontinue to be perpetrated against my countrymen." If Olonga's protest hada greater impact than that of the England team, it was because he had more tolose.

The bravery of men like Olonga and Andy Flower -- who wore black bands whenthey first took the field in the World Cup -- was pushed into the background asthe tournament progressed. Can you imagine a Tendulkar or a Ganguly taking thefield in black arm bands to protest against the corruption among ourpoliticians?

Sport cannot exist in a vacuum; without a context, there can be no meaning.

To repeat the cliche that sport and politics ought not to mix is a cop out.They are part of the same continuum along with economics, culture, theatre andentertainment and all other aspects of human endeavour. Is a sporting event theright occasion for making a political statement?

The International Cricket Council didn't think so, falling back on somethingcalled the purity of sport. But if such a purity ever existed -- and I doubt ifit did -- it has long been made impure by outside elements. In the moderncontext these would include drugs and security problems, politics and outrightcheating. Sportsmen tend to keep sports and politics in separate compartments,either because it is convenient to do so or because they simply lack aworld-view.

When the late Colin Cowdrey was president of the ICC, I met him in SouthAfrica just before India's first-ever Test in that country. I asked him if hedidn't think it was a great moment when a black man was about to see action frombehind the bowler's arm for the first time. And also if he didn't think itstrange when he toured South Africa as a player that non-whites were herded intocages from where they could barely see what was going on.

"We never dwelt on these things," he replied.

That is why we must celebrate those who dwell on these things, and not merelydwell, but stand up to be counted. It becomes easier to condone what Olonga andFlower did because they were the good guys. By handling themselves with dignity,the two players brought to their protest an element of nobility that shoutingfrom rooftops fails to do.

Flower's future is in Australia and cricket; Olonga's is in any of fourcontinents and any of the three or four professions. And thereby hangs a tale.For cricket was only one facet of his multi-faceted personality. Not since CBFry, world record holder in the long jump, classics scholar at Oxford, and worldtable tennis champion, has a cricketer reserved the right to say, like WaltWhitman, "I am large; I contain multitudes."

It is tempting to call Olonga the Black Fry or the Modern Fry, but not evenFry could claim to have an operatic voice with a best-selling single to boot!Then there is the matter of his poetry and painting. The Zimbabwean icon wasactually born in Zambia (a fact that is being made much of by his enemies inHarare who wish to soften the impact of a man willing to give up everything forhis beliefs).

The family (his mother is a Zimbabwean) moved to Bulawayo in Zimbabwe for thesuperior educational opportunities. His father, a Kenyan pediatrician, wantedOlonga to run for Kenya in the Olympic Games. That was an early career option.At 16, Olonga was capable of jumping 24 feet, and running the 100m in 10.6seconds. He rewrote 18 athletics records.

He also sang Comfort Ye in Handel's Messiah,and was the finalist in Zimbabwe for the best actor for his role as CharlieDavenport in Annie Get Your Gun. It is a combination ofaccomplishments that will serve him well now.

In 1992, Olonga became a committed Christian, and began to see the world andhis personal triumphs and disappointments as being part of a grand plan. At 18,Olonga made his Test debut against Pakistan, the youngest from his country andthe first black to do so. He claimed a wicket in his first over; he was alsocalled for chucking. He had picked up bowling by watching older boys, and itwasn't until Dennis Lillee worked with him that he was able to sort out hisaction.

By playing crucial roles in victories over Pakistan and India, Olonga oughtto have been a certainty in the national side. But injuries kept him out of theteam when selectorial whims didn't. In the '96 World Cup, for example, he wasdropped initially, and was finally picked for the Sri Lanka match. He stood downhimself because he felt he was out of practice.

Two seasons later, he found a chink in the armour or Sachin Tendulkar in aSharjah tournament. He had pace, direction, and a drive that saw him trouble theIndian repeatedly outside the off stump. Even when Tendulkar hit him for sixover cover point, Olonga knew he had beaten him, and the shot was a mishit.

A year later, he led the charge as India fell to Zimbabwe in the World Cup.He revealed then that he was working on his outswinger with as much focus withwhich he was working on his CD. Post-cricket, music would seem to be his firstoption. Or lay preaching. Or television commentary. Or social work (he workswith children at risk the world over). Or being the rallying point for anti-Mugabegroups outside Zimbabwe.

Where recognition for his multifarious talents is concerned, Olonga might behandicapped by being born in the wrong continent at the wrong time. Hisaccomplishments would have been the stuff of song and legend anywhere else. Butperhaps there is a larger design. Perhaps this is not a retirement so much as arebirth.