BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
ZIMBABWE women national team all-rounder Christabel Chatonzwa is still buzzing after a match winning ton in the final that helped her domestic team Health Alliance Eagles women lift the Fifty50 Challenge at Old Hararians last weekend.
Chatonzwa, who had struggled with the bat on the road to the final, struck 14 boundaries for an unbeaten 108 in 114 balls as Eagles set a massive 258 score.
One of the senior players in the team, Chatonzwa was relieved to have stepped up to the blade when it mattered the most.
She reflected on the historic performance, which saw deliver the only century in the competition this season.
“It felt amazing scoring a match winning century in the final, and not getting many runs prior, so I’m glad things came together when it mattered the most. I didn’t expect it but I knew my best was needed, I hoped for that kind of a performance,” the 31-year-old Lady Chevron player told The Sports Hub.
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“Though it could have been better, I think my overall performance was good. I had two players of the match awards in other games, helping take us to the final,” she added.
Chatonzwa was the second highest run scorer in the competition with 200 in seven matches behind player of the tournament Josephine Nkomo who had 268.
In the bowling department Chatonzwa had the sixth best statistic with a haul of 10 wickets in seven innings including best figures of four wickets for six recorded against Midwest Rhinos.
The Chitungwiza-bred star has been capped three times by the country both in WODIs and WT20is.
Her childhood dream was to become a gymnast, but ended up playing baseball in primary school and switched to cricket in high school.
“I was always a sports person, my dream was to do gymnastics, but you know for a ghetto childhood it was really just a dream, those facilities do not exist so I settled for athletics and baseball.
“I started playing cricket in 2005 when it was introduced at my high school by Alois Tichana, who is now at Prince Edward. I played baseball in primary school and high school.
“There was no baseball, so I thought cricket was similar, so I joined.
“It came naturally, and just a year later I made it into a national squad. I’m happy and really grateful; cricket has taken me places and is still offering many other opportunities for me.
“And my dream now is to be able to give back to the community, to be the reason other girls see this as a career opportunity and excel.
“But the biggest one is to play to my full potential and amongst the best players out there,” she said.
It has not been a smooth journey for Chatonzwa especially being a female cricketer to be where she is right now in her career and she spoke about the hurdles she has had to overcome.
“Being a female cricketer, my challenges started very early, the community would judge and in their opinion, cricket was a man’s sport, if I didn’t have supporting parents, maybe I wouldn’t be here today,” she said.
“The other challenge was how expensive cricket is; the kit itself is costly, as the only player who had made it from Chitungwiza back in the day, my dad really had to cut an arm and a leg for me to look and feel as good as the others.
“Overall I’m glad things have changed regarding cricket being called the man’s game, now we are on the verge of being treated equally and women’s cricket is becoming the lime light and ICC’s priority.
“Finally having to balance being a wife and a mother, being away from family a lot is a challenge, I’m just fortunate that I’m married to a cricketer and he supports and understands.”
Chatonzwa is married to Tinashe Chimbambo, a former Zimbabwe Under-19 player who helps improve on her cricket.