Richard Ngarava's tall tale: how a Zimbabwe fast bowler came into his own

If you're interested in gaining height, Zimbabwe's Richard Ngarava, who stands at 1.98 metres, is willing to let you in on his secret.

"Anyone who asks me how I got tall, I tell them I only ate vegetables," Ngarava says, the day after he helped Zimbabwe qualify for next year's T20 World Cup. He is, of course, not being entirely serious, but his growth spurt from a "chubby and short" young teen to a lean, lanky one coincided with him deciding to take his health seriously.

"I put myself on a diet, and I don't even know why I did it," he says. "At that time I was a batter and I bowled a bit of spin but in Grade Nine everything just changed. For close to four years, I was on a diet and I made sure I didn't miss any gym sessions. As a young boy, I loved pizza and fried chicken but I cut those out and told myself I am going to eat fruits and vegetables, and drink water only. That's when I became tall."

At the time, Ngarava was a student at Churchill School but playing club cricket in the area he grew up in, Harare's Highfield, which is home to the famous Takashinga Cricket Club. Also part of the club was Blessing Muzarabani, presumably born tall and currently 2.07 metres. The pair became friends. "We went to different schools but we both played for the same Takashinga age-group team. We've been pushing each other since we were Under-12s," Ngarava says.

There was one important difference between the Ngarava and Muzarabani of the early 2000s and the players they are now. "Back then, Blessing was a legspinner and I was mostly a batter," Ngarava says.

Also, incidentally the first time he came to international attention it was, in fact, for something that happened when he was batting. At the 2016 Under-19 World Cup, Ngarava was run-out at the non-striker's end by Keemo Paul of West Indies. Zimbabwe needed just two runs to win that match when Ngarava was dismissed. The run-out put West Indies in the quarter-final and sparked a debate about the spirit of cricket.

"When it happened, I thought it was a ruse," Ngarava says. "I was not really happy when I walked off the field and everyone else was not happy in the dressing room. We later understood that it was part of the game. But what I didn't like about the situation was, there was no warning from anyone."

While bowlers are not obliged to warn batters who are backing up too far, and there is no rule against running out a batter at the non-striker's end, in some circles it is thought of as polite to give a batter a warning. This has been at the heart of some of cricket's culture wars in recent times.

Has Ngarava ever thought of running a non-striker out while bowling? "At some point maybe. But then I figured, nah, I just want to play normal cricket. I don't want to mess with people's moods."

Again, not entirely true, because Ngarava says he turned to fast bowling as a teenager because he quite enjoyed just hurting people. Slowly he started to change that outlook. Under the guidance of his school coach George Tande he discovered an ability to swing the ball. "I actually like taking wickets more than hurting people," he realised.

He made Zimbabwe's age-group sides in his mid-teens and continued to represent Takashinga and was part of their first team. He credits them with his growth, particularly the club's trips to Uganda, where they played that country's national side. "We didn't look at those as just normal games or club games, we looked at them as international games because we were playing Uganda," he says.

One day, when he was around 18, he received a call while he was in Uganda. It was his international call-up.

Ngarava made his debut against Afghanistan in an ODI in 2017, and two and a half years after that, played his first T20I. Though he was always comfortable opening the bowling, he soon became interested in bowling at the end of an innings. "I wanted to be the best death bowler in the team," he says. "But I ended up developing more skills as I played more games. I used to enjoy just bowling yorkers and short balls but I've now added some other skills to my game."

The appointment of Charl Langeveldt to Zimbabwe's coaching staff in the middle of 2024 was a game changer for Ngarava. It was around then that he developed an important weapon.

"The wobble seam has done so much for me," he says. "Sometimes you don't really know what the ball is going to do [with a wobbly seam] but I just want to target that fifth-stump line or fourth-stump line and whatever the ball is going to do there, I'm quite happy with it.

"It's different from the normal seam, where you can actually see the seam from the hand and it's easy to pick. I've seen the English bowlers are doing it now more often, where they're wobbling the ball. It's also different from Jimmy Anderson, where he actually had to make sure that his seam is up for him to swing the ball."

Ngarava got a first hand-hand look at the English bowlers when Zimbabwe toured there earlier this year to play a first Test in that country in over two decades. He was named in the starting XI and bowled nine overs in the first innings but could play no further part in the match after suffering a back injury on day one.

"It's not a nice feeling to get injured and still get to hang around the ground and see the boys playing," he says. "It was really disappointing considering it was historic. We hadn't played England for so long and I also wanted to perform," he says. "I felt bad for the team and I asked myself, 'Is this the right time to get injured?' even though I knew I couldn't control it. I tried to hide those emotions and didn't show them to anyone."

The issue was caused by a bulging vertebral disc and Ngarava has not played in any of Zimbabwe's four Tests since. That has been tough because he says playing the longest format is "something that I really want to do". Of course, Zimbabwe are not part of the World Test Championship, and for now, their focus is on the next two major white-ball tournaments: the 2026 T20 World Cup and the 2027 ODI World Cup. They will co-host the latter with South Africa and Namibia.

Getting to the first of those was crucial for maintaining the relevance of Zimbabwe cricket, after they were the only Full Member to miss out on the 2024 T20 World Cup because they lost to Uganda in the qualifiers. This time, Zimbabwe beat Uganda easily, Ngarava removed their best batter Raizat Ali Shah and also finished as the joint leading bowler at the event. In the process he also became the first Zimbabwean to 100 T20I wickets.

Ordinarily you would expect a team and one of their key players to celebrate under the circumstances, but Zimbabwe and Ngarava are just relieved. "It was quite nice to qualify in front of the Harare fans but everyone is not really expressing the way they feel," he says. "Maybe guys are still not sure that we actually qualified. Everyone is just calm about it because we've got that understanding of us wanting to actually play for the team more than individual performances."

But there is also excitement. "I can't wait to be on that plane to India and Sri Lanka and then also play the 50-over World Cup, and hopefully we will do something for the fans."

Ngarava already has some experience of Sri Lanka from his time in the Lanka Premier League in 2023 and on two tours there for Zimbabwe. His LPL appearance was the first of several league gigs, including the BPL and the ILT20, though he hasn't yet played a game in those last two leagues. Most recently he picked up a deal at Sharjah Warriors in the ILT20, for whom he hopes to play in the UAE ahead of the T20 World Cup. His new-ball partner, Muzarabani, will also be there, for Gulf Giants, as the two bowlers' journeys continue to mirror each other.

"It's funny how we're both now seam bowlers," Ngarava says. "I don't really know how it happened," But he does. They're both very, very tall and he knows how that helps. "Before talent or before anything else, having good height as a fast bowler gives you an extra advantage."