UK: Asylum seeker Tawanda Muyeye dreams of playing international cricket for England

By Agencies

UK: Tawanda Muyeye, who fled Zimbabwe as a teenager due to political unrest in the African nation and sought asylum in the United Kingdom, has been turning heads with his performances with the willow.

The 24-year-old  Muyeye, who plays as an opener for Kent in addition to the Hundred team Invincibles, anticipates a national call-up in the near future.

“I want to play international cricket. That is my goal and dream,” Muyeye declared.

Muyeye and his family fled the nation of his birth seven years ago, due to the unsettled political climate in the country, in order to make a better life in England.

“England has been good to us — my family and myself. I don’t think there’s any better place in the world to be than London in the summer,” he said.

Former England player and director of cricket at Kent county, Paul Downtown, took the youngster under his wing and served as his mentor. Muyeye acknowledged the important role Downtown played in his journey as a cricketer.

“I always say that I owe so much to him and to Kent,” Muyeye says.

“When someone backs you and gives you that clarity, you obviously want to repay them,” Muyeye explained.

Muyeye also revealed that cricket wasn’t always his first calling as he tried his hand at multiple other sports alongside his pals growing up.

“I wanted to give up cricket when I was maybe 15. Loads of my mates played other sports and cricket was just getting a bit boring for me.”

However, he stuck to the willow and his abilities caught the attention of Oval Invincibles’s coach Tom Moody, who opted to give him an opening role at the side partnering English international Will Jacks.

Muyeye has played a part in five games thusfar in the campaign and has tallied 124 runs including a fifty, after having been used as a sporadic back-up batter for the side last season.

“Any time a coach backs you, it gives you confidence and allows you to be yourself,” Muyeye reflected.

“The backing I’ve gotten here has been second to none,” he reiterated.

Muyeye is patiently  waiting for the immigration protocols to fall in place in order to get a permanent residency permit to live in the United Kingdom.

“The end goal is to try to play international cricket. I want to expose myself to as much cricket as possible, in as many conditions as possible,” he concluded.