From Zimbabwe to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and now to Bamawm-Lockington United: that is the journey of international cricketer Regis Chakabva.
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Last weekend, Chakabva was playing for Zimbabwe on the MCG as it took on India in front of more than 80,000 fans at the the T20 World Cup.
Six days later, he will be suiting up for Bamawm-Lockington United for its opening clash of the Goulburn Murray Cricket season against Leitchville-Gunbower on Saturday afternoon.
Having reached last season’s A-grade grand final, BLU have now made a massive addition to their squad ahead of the new campaign.
Simply put, Chakabva’s move to BLU is immense. Almost no other community cricket club in the country could say they have a current international representative on their team.
The 35-year-old has played more than 100 matches for the Zimbabwe national team, nicknamed the Chevrons, and he will bring an incredible wealth of world-class cricket knowledge and experience to BLU.
Chakabva played in all five of Zimbabwe’s games at the T20 World Cup, going up against the might of powerhouses India, South Africa and Pakistan — with Zimbabwe earning a thrilling one-run win against the latter.
In the lead-up to this year’s tournament, Chakabva captained the Chevrons in both of their one day series against Australia and India.
From Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, Chakabva made his international debut back in 2008, and he has represented the Chevrons in all formats of the game — playing in 22 tests, 61 One Day Internationals and 49 T20s.
The wicket keeper batsmen has an international test century under his belt, having reached 101 in a match against Bangladesh.
And through a career that has taken him all around the world, Chakabva’s cricket journey has now brought him to BLU — a move he said he was thrilled to make.
“I am raring to go on Saturday,” he said.
“Things have been really good. The boys have been really nice and really friendly.
“I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and getting to know everybody.”
The move from international cricket to the GMC is certainly a unique one, and Chakabva explained how it came about.
“I got in touch with my agent and said I would love to go down under and get some cricket going,” he said.
“He got in touch with BLU, and we had a good chat with [BLU president] Matt Hamilton and the committee. We had a good conversation and straight away I thought it would be lovely.
“I got the opportunity to come eventually and here I am.”
Chakabva has moved to the region with his wife, Matilda, and his young son and daughter Ethan and Hannah, with the family living in Moama.
“My family is here, we are staying in Moama,” he said.
“The plan is to stay in Australia for quite a while. Obviously be with BLU for quite a few years, I’m just looking at that and excited about that.
“Everything has been good. It is quiet and the family is enjoying it. It is definitely not as busy compared to the big cities back home in Zimbabwe.
“Coming from Harare there is quite a lot of hustle and bustle going on the whole time there, so we have been enjoying the laid-back atmosphere.”
The process of working through everything for Chakabva to be able to join BLU was something that was years in the making, and BLU president Matt Hamilton said everyone was delighted to have him at the Lions.
“It is pretty amazing, words don’t describe it,” Hamilton said.
“The club is super excited to have Regis on board after the process that we have been through. We have had many helpers along the way, and the support from local businesses has been fantastic.
“There is an opportunity for a family, and the cricket club is very excited and proud to be able to support a family to come to our community. We are super excited for it all to work out for the Chakabva family.
“It is a truly amazing opportunity that was presented to us as a cricket club, and for it to work out like it has to this point in time, it is overwhelming.”
Hamilton joked that BLU would offer a different experience to the MCG, adding that it would be fantastic for the community to have a player of Chakabva’s calibre around.
“Last Sunday there was 82,000 people watching, this weekend he might have that many gum tree leaves looking at him instead,” he said.
“I am sure he will be absolutely fantastic for the club. The way Regis can relate to people is truly amazing.
“A lot of people across the area will gain a lot of benefit from having Regis Chakabva on the cricket field and in the community.
“And knowing Regis like I do now, I can honestly say he is a younger brother.
“It has been a long period of time and an amazing journey. Would you do it again? You certainly would for a bloke of Regis’s calibre and his family Matilda, Ethan and Hannah.”
Since his debut for Zimbabwe 14 years ago, Chakabva has travelled the world and played for his country on the biggest stages in world cricket, including this year’s World Cup — an experience he said was hard to describe.
“It is amazing. Those experiences, especially the last game against India at the MCG, playing in front of 82,000 people, I don’t think there are a lot of ways you can go about describing that, it is just unbelievable,” Chakabva said.
“We have been around some big crowds before, but definitely none like the last game. It was just unbelievable looking around and seeing what the atmosphere is like. It was just unreal, to be honest.”
Zimbabwe reached the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup after finishing on top of their pool — which consisted of the West Indies, Ireland and Scotland — in the group stages.
The Chevrons only recorded one win in the Super 12s, but it sure was memorable — a dramatic one-run win over a Pakistan side that has gone on to reach the final of the Tournament.
Chakabva said it was incredible to represent his country at the tournament, especially seeing the way it inspired people in Zimbabwe.
“We really enjoyed it. Probably one of the biggest things for us was seeing the support that came through from back home and the Zimbabwe community in Australia as well,” he said.
“We had so many videos and pictures of people that before were not really that much into cricket, but everybody was donning their Zim jerseys.
"Schools back in Zimbabwe had jersey days where everybody was wearing red, it was quite nice to see how, even though we were a long way from home, we were in a big way inspiring a lot of those kids back home and a lot of fans in general.
“It was really special to get all of that going because of some of our performances.”
He said the recent win over Pakistan ranked right up there among his all-time career highlights.
“It has been a long career, there have definitely been a few really good moments along the way.
“But I think one of them has to be the win we had against Pakistan in this world cup. It was probably one of the biggest moments for us.
“At that point we had quite the chance to make it into the semi-finals. We had a lot of messages coming through about ‘dare to dream’.
“The fact that it really looked like we inspired a nation and we brought a lot of smiles to a lot of people’s faces, that was certainly quite an achievement for us.”
On the back of their recent success, Chakabva said he had seen cricket gain a whole lot more attention in Zimbabwe.
"It has been getting a lot more traction, especially in the last few months. We had the qualifiers before that and we had India and Afghanistan coming up,“ he said.
“We had the stadiums full, which was something that hadn’t really happened in a long time for us. That just shows that that people are getting back into it and really enjoying it.
“Obviously soccer is probably still the biggest sport in the country, but I think apart from soccer, I would say cricket is right up there now, which is really good.”
He said for national teams like Zimbabwe, the opportunity to face off against the world’s best teams was a key way to help improve.
“For every small nation, if I can put it like that, the only way to really get better is to play a lot of cricket initially, but also to play much bigger teams than yourselves, that definitely helps to try and imp[rove the standard as well,” he said.
“It is good when big countries come and play because sometimes it is a real test of where you are and for you to see how far you need to go.
“It is really good when you get that chance to go against really good opposition.”
With the world cup now behind him, Chakbva said his goals for this season were to help BLU succeed on and off the field.
The Lions finished third on the GMC ladder last season. They knocked off second-placed Rochester in the semis to reach the grand final, but fell to Echuca by six wickets.
“In terms of being here and what we are trying to achieve with the club, obviously we are looking to do the best for the club,” he said.
“We had a really good season last year and so we are hoping that we can continue on that trend.
“I’m expecting to play every game. As long as I am fit and healthy, I should be good to play every game.
“I’ll be involved with quite a bit of coaching as well. I’ll be working with Matt alongside the guys at the club to try and help out with the juniors and make sure that there is that talent and potential coming through the club.”
Chakabva said he was still keen to continue playing for Zimbabwe on the international stage, but said he was hoping those commitments won’t clash with the BLU schedule.
“In terms of how that is going to work out with Zimbabwe, I am obviously still hoping that I can keep on going with my international career for however long I can,” he said.
“We have had a good conversation with the guys back home and they are quite understanding of where I am at this point in time.
“At this point in time, the games are mostly going to be after the season. So at least when the season is done, I will be a lot more free and open to head back home and continue with that.”