This was my dream – Tiripano

Donald Tiripano makes for an unlikely, everyday cricketing hero. Well under six feet tall, he occasionally tops 130kph with the ball and just about holds his own the bat, without getting too bolshy. But against West Indies at Queens Sports Club on Saturday afternoon, he showed his mettle as a cricketer and became just the hero Zimbabwe needed. With six deliveries in the final over Tiripano sparked the unlikeliest of comebacks, taking three wickets and giving away just three runs to help Zimbabwe tie.

“To me, it was my dream,” Tiripano said, holding back welling emotions. “I was talking to myself, saying. ‘This is the chance I’ve been waiting for since I was a little kid’. I grew up playing cricket in the streets. I was just thinking about that. Thinking ‘Just be positive. Nothing to fear. Just express yourself’. That positivity and that faith … I just thank God for this. It’s great for me. It’s something that many wish for in their lives, to save a match for their country. It’s a blessing.”

He had opened the bowling earlier, trapping Johnson Charles lbw with an inducker before the opener could really get going. His opening spell of 1 for 24 was useful, but not flashy – and certainly gave no indication of the heroics that would come later, when he was called upon by his captain Graeme Cremer to bowl the final over of this match, with just four runs to defend. With his second ball, he had the dangerous, World T20-winning Carlos Brathwaite caught at long on. With his third, he ran Ashley Nurse out by deflecting a firm drive from Jason Holder back onto the non-striker’s stumps.

Suddenly, hope surged. After a leg bye, he might have had Jonathan Carter caught in the deep, but Chamu Chibhabha couldn’t quite get to the chance despite a stupendous effort. The batsmen crossed, levelling the …

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