‘One Moment Changed My Life'

Former Zimbabwean cricketer Henry Olonga talks about his career on the field, and the protest that changed it all

- Gourav Pilania

A part of the golden generation of Zimbabwean cricket of the late 1990s and early 2000s, Henry Olonga stands tall as one of the most audacious figures of the game. The country’s first-ever black cricketer, Olonga played 30 Tests and 50 ODIs in a career spanning eight years, picking up 126 wickets across both formats.

Olonga, aged 18, became the youngest to represent his country when he made his Test debut against Pakistan in 1995. From ruffling Sachin Tendulkar’s feathers in Sharjah in 1998 to causing an upset in his 1999 World Cup encounter against India, he was on course to becoming Zimbabwe cricket’s poster boy, when his career was cut short by an incident that would define his legacy more than anything.

In 2003, Olonga alongside captain Andy Flower staged the famous black-armband protest in their opening match against Namibia at the World Cup to mourn the “death of democracy” in Zimbabwe. The protest came in the wake of white farmers’ lands being seized forcibly in Zimbabwe by the Robert Mugabe-led government, and the rise in cases of human rights abuse.

There were serious repercussions for both Olonga and Flower. Both never played for the country again, and Olonga retired prematurely from international cricket. Initially charged with treason (punishable by death in Zimbabwe), Olonga faced multiple arrest warrants and death threats. He fled the country in 2003 and lived in exile in Britain for 12 years.

Olonga moved to Australia in 2015, where he now lives in Adelaide with his wife, Tara, and two daughters. After catching the imagination of the audience and judges at The Voice Australia, a singing competition, in 2019 with his beautiful rendition of Anthony Warlow’s This Is The Moment, Olonga today is a successful opera singer.