Makhaya Ntini brought energy to the team: Graeme Cremer

Graeme Cremer made his debut as an 18-year-old in 2005 against Bangladesh with promises of becoming the future star of Zimbabwean cricket. However, things weren’t easy for him. Injury problems bogged him down badly and he finally decided to call it quits and retired from international cricket at a young age of age 26 in April 2013.

The passion as always there for the game but the circumstances had become too exhausting for him. In addition to the two knee injuries which spoiled his career, he had to deal with financial instability and shifting power dynamics in Zimbabwe Cricket. He instead chose that he would instead pursue a career in golf. Unfortunately, his golf dreams met with failure and decided he would set up a golf shop. He did open up a store called Golf Spot, but slowly and surely he found himself watching cricket and missing it. “That never went away,” he tells Wisden India.

In a candid chat, he discusses the experience of touring Pakistan, how fear of failure grips Zimbabwe when they play against Afghanistan, and what fans can realistically expect from the team.

The love for the game brought back the leg-spinner to the game in May 2015 and now a year later, he has been appointed Zimbabwe captain for the ODI and T20 series against India.

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“It was the appointment of Dav Whatmore as head coach and Alastair Campbell as managing director that was the tipping point for me. He saw value in me being in the team. I spoke to my family and they also thought it was a good idea. That’s when I decided to come back.”

Zimbabwe Cricket have made several structural changes, including naming him as as captain. How did you find out and what do you make of it. Leading a side that has lost nearly three times as many ODIs and T20Is that it has won in the past decade and trying to locate the light at the end of tunnel isn’t easy. But Cremer has set the team a simpler goal: to pull together in the same direction.

“I had heard from a newspaper that there had been a board meeting and that my name came up in regards to the captaincy. When we were at the camp in Bulawayo, I was called in to a meeting with the chairman, the managing director, and the head of the cricket committee. That’s when they told me.”

“All the changes that were made did come as bit of surprise and it was hard to know what the motives were behind it. But I can accept that the output hasn’t been good. It was a disappointing World T20 and our board is also under pressure to try and get some results. So I can understand both sides of the story.”

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“The team knows me very well. I’m honest and I stick to the straight and narrow. The players respect what I’ve done in my career so far and they know I’ll be there for them. My job is to get the guys pulling in the same direction.”

The Zimbabwean administration went for a change in the coaching department as well, bringing in former South African fast bowler South African Makhaya Ntini in place of sacked Dav Whatmore.

“He’s very, very loud (laughs)! But he’s brought energy to the team. He says what he thinks. He’s big when it comes to fitness and getting the guys ready to go onto the field. He sets discipline standards, which is something we’ve lacked in the past. He’s been drumming into all the players to have belief in their ability and telling them that if they didn’t have the ability, they wouldn’t be here.”

Cremer also spoke about the young Indian side which they have faced in the series.

MS (Dhoni) is very experienced and he knows what he’s doing, but we can’t be discounted. We’re playing in our home conditions and we have more games under our belt and experience compared to their guys. We feel we can put them under pressure. I mean, why not? Everyone feels pressure. If we come hard at them in the first game, we can put the squeeze on them later.