AFTER watching two former Zimbabwe cricket captains in actions — Tatenda Taibu and Hamilton Masakadza — Chevron express bowler Tendai Chatara was inspired to play cricket for Zimbabwe.
At the time he was only a Grade 5 pupil at Dangamvura Primary School in Mutare.
At 32, Chatara is the country’s senior fast bowler and holds the record of being the fastest Zimbabwean to hit 100 wickets in One Day International (ODI) matches, doing it in 76 matches.
The fastest before him was the legendary seam bowler Heath Streak, who reached a century of victims in 81 starts’
Chatara joined an elite league of Zimbabwean bowlers to reach 100 wickets after Grant Flower, Graeme Cremer, Raymond Price, Prosper Utseya and Streak.
At the moment Chatara boasts of 106 ODI wickets, 56 in T20is and 24 in red ball cricket.
“My cricket journey started when I was in Grade 5 at Dangamvura Primary School. My coach was George Tandi. Watching Tatenda Taibu and Hamilton Masakadza playing for Zimbabwe on TV is what inspired me to play cricket,” Chatara told Zimbabwe Cricket last week.
Naturally athletic, Chatara had represented his home province of Manicaland in 200 and 400 metre running events up to high school before deciding to fully focus on cricket where he was excelling and getting national recognition in age group teams.
During his international career spanning 13 years, Chatara has suffered career-threatening injuries. The first was in 2015 at the peak of his career when he broke his shin and spent close to two years on the side-lines.
Then in 2020 he suffered a bicep injury, but he has always managed to bounce back strong.
Chatara explained how his Manicaland background helped him in his career especially with his fitness.
“Coming from Manicaland there are a lot of mountains and we used to run up and down the mountains and that helped me with my fitness as a cricketer. I have spent a lot of time working on my skills day in and day out and that has helped me to be on top of my game for such a long time,” he said.
He spoke about some of his memorable performances in the national cricket team
“My favourite (individual) performance for Zimbabwe was when I took a five-for against Pakistan in a Test match whereas my most memorable team performance is when we beat Australia in 2014 at Harare Sports Club and some of the players who were representing Australia were Michael Clarke, Glen Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Mitchel Starc and Mitchell Johnson,” he said.
Chatara took five wickets as Zimbabwe pulled off a dramatic 24-run win on the fifth day of the second and final Test against Pakistan back in September 2013.
That was when he achieved his best Test figures of 5-61 with the two-match series finishing at 1-1.
A year later Zimbabwe stunned a star-studded Australia side by three runs in a tri-series, which was held in Harare and also involved South Africa.
With a lot of cricket left in him Chatara has represented Zimbabwe in 50 T20s, 82 ODIs and 9 Tests.