Olonga — the conscience-keeper who stood up for what was right

Different strokes: Olonga busy drawing a picture of a stadium at the Adelaide Oval’s Village Green area.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Speedster, painter, musician, author and rebel. These diverse labels sit easy with Henry Olonga. However, the former Zimbabwean seamer and current Australian citizen, would rather be known as a man with a heart.

His fingers smudged with paint, Olonga, was busy drawing a picture of a stadium at the Adelaide Oval’s Village Green area here on Saturday. Next to him a lone vocalist and a musician belted out songs. Olonga is comfortable in this universe of arts.

He also stays in touch with cricket, a game he played at the international level from 1995 to 2003. Twenty one years ago, Olonga and Andy Flower wore a black armband to protest the atrocities committed by the then Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Their careers ended and Olonga moved to England, and later to Australia.

This tale of exile is a constant: “I was born in Zambia and had a Kenyan father and I felt even when I played for Zimbabwe I was considered an outsider.” He now feels at home Down Under: “I love Australia. I am married to an Australian wife and I have got two children.”

He does multiple things, cuts music albums, delivers speeches, paints for causes, is a casual coach with the South Australia Cricket Association and is an umpire at weekend games. “A lot of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis play and much later they get to know who I am,” he said.

A fast bowler with soft-skills may seem an anachronism but Olonga insisted that he was always into aesthetics: “I always had that soft side and I never saw it as different or odd. I always liked variety. I get bored doing one thing.”

And the decision to protest and quit cricket? The answer is quick: “I stood up for what I believed. It meant the end of my career, but there are things more important than the game. When I lived in a country with a man (Mugabe), who slaughtered so many of his own people, I got to say something. No regrets.”

For Indian fans, Olonga stirs a memory in association with Sachin Tendulkar. In the 1998 Coca-Cola Cup at Sharjah, the pacer dismissed the maestro cheaply but in the final, it was payback time and a century (124 n.o.) was hammered. “Everyone remembers because it is on YouTube. I got him out and then in the final, he went crazy, I went for plenty of runs (6-0-50-0) and he smashed it,” Olonga recalled.

As the conversation wound to a close, the 48-year-old conscience-keeper said: “A lot of people say, stay out of politics. But, sportspeople are human beings and have strong ideas. You should not be excluded from using your voice to convey strong feelings.”

But cricket cannot be far when Olonga is around and he is quick to praise the Indian pacers: “They are amazing. (Jasprit) Bumrah is the best bowler, has got a bit of hyper-extension, which gives him a crack. He reminds me of Wasim (Akram) of the short run-up.”