HARARE - Just when he was contemplating quitting cricket, an unexpected call up to the Mashonaland Eagles Castle Logan Cup team came up and saved his game from going into abyss.

Three weeks before his debut, Glenshire Cricket Club seamer Tafadzwa Muzarawetu had decided to quit the sport he so loves.

While he was still pondering his next move, the Mash Eagles coach Steve Mangongo two weeks ago told the young player to report for practice on a Monday morning, the new coach’s first day in charge of the Harare side.

“I went through the practice session just like any other player but little did I know that something very special was in the offing,” Muzarawetu tells the Daily News on Sunday yesterday.

“Just before the match, the coach told me I was playing. I couldn’t believe it, I pinched myself a bit, I couldn’t believe I had been officially handed my first-class debut.”

The darkest hour is the hour before dawn and true to Muzarawetu, he had almost given up at the very last hurdle.

“Every parent wants his or her son to do well in life and I was destined to go out of my way and please my mother, she is my only source of hope hence I didn’t want to disappoint her.

“I’m glad the situation has changed now, she’s now 100 percent behind me, I’m still young and learning the ropes but I hope I will be able to repay her faith through focus and hard work.”

On his debut against Midwest Rhinos last week, Muzarawetu took a wicket in each innings, removing former Zimbabwe Test batsman and man-of-the-match Mark Vermeulen as well as overseas professional Jaik Mickleburgh.

Sadly for the young man, the match ended in agony as Rhinos won the four-day match by 323 runs.

“At first I was a bit nervous but life became a bit easier after talking to my seniors Elton Chigumbura and Kyle Jarvis, it was obviously stage fright but a good feeling to get that big wicket of Vermeulen as my first first-class scalp albeit in a losing cause,” Muzarawetu added.

“I’m grateful to my childhood coach Leonard Nhamburo, Glenshire senior player Trevor Garwe, Mash Eagles assistant coach Stanley Timoni who saw the talent in me, the late Kevin Curran, national team coach Alan Butcher, among others”