Getting shirty

Enthusiastic support ... but from where? © Getty Images

Sunday in Zimbabwe is a day when most people go to church and find themselves with nothing to do in the afternoon. When the match started at 9.30 am, only a few people could be seen in the stands but the numbers swelled later on in the afternoon and estimates put the eventual crowd at around 2000. Some of the fans, however, were supporters of a well-known football club who had been brought in by Zimbabwe Cricket to increase the numbers.

The crowd spiced up a one-sided match with Mexican waves once in a while as they tried to stay interested. There were no protests to talk about in and outside the stadium, although there were police with baton sticks, and some in riot gear, on every street corner around the ground. One thing was for sure, there were plenty of government spies keeping an eye on any potential protesters, as well as the large number of foreign journalists are covering the tour.

All seemed normal but away from the public eye, a prominent local journalist was told to remove an English county shirt bearing the name of Heath Streak. The journalist was summoned from the crowded press box by Lovemore Banda, the Zimbabwe board's media and communications manager, and asked why he was "still living in the past".

A few minutes later, Ozias Bvute, the board's acting managing director, appeared. Shown what the journalist was wearing, he quickly became irate and threatened the journalist with a visit to the president's [Mugabe's] office. The hapless scribe had to get another shirt - bearing the name of the new captain, Tatenda Taibu - from Banda's office.

The incident left those in the press office who had witnessed the conversation surprised. If local journalists are now told what to wear at cricket matches, how long before they are told what to write?

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