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Pakistan-born Zimbabwe T20I captain Sikandar Raza has accused local coach Blessing Mafuwa of racial abuse during a Vigne Cup game on June 1. Raza lodged a complaint with the Harare Metropolitan Cricket Association (HMCA). The association took swift action and suspended the coach ahead of the hearing on June 10.
The alleged incident took place during the match between Old Hararians and Rainbow Cricket Club at the Old Harrarians Sports Club. The alleged racial comments were made when Raza was leaving the field.
"We received a report of racial abuse that our T20 captain [Raza] suffered, last week. We are in the process of investigating. Blessing Mafuwa will attend a hearing this coming Tuesday. He will answer charges from the report. In the interim, he is suspended from all activities in the HMCA," HMCA chairperson Tafadzwa Madoro told ESPNCricinfo.
"We don't take racism allegations lightly. We don't condone any racial abuse in HMCA. We will want to investigate this as quickly as possible," he added.
Raza expects a strict action against the local coach to prevent such incidents from happening again.
"If found guilty, an example should be made out of him so that stuff like this never happens again to this and future generations," Raza said.
Raza's team wins
Raza was on the winning side in the match tainted by alleged racial abuse. He scored 78 runs off 56 balls in the One-Day match, helping his side post 402/9. Rainbow Cricket Club could not pose a challenge as they managed to score 225/8 in 39 overs. They lost the game by 142 runs (DLS method) as rain played spoilsport.
Raza's previous and next international match
39-year-old Raza was seen in action on the international stage when Zimbabwe took on England in a one-off Test. He registered scores of 7 and 60. With the ball, he conceded 93 runs and claimed the wicket of opener Zak Crawley. Later this month, he will be in action at Queens Sports Club as Zimbabwe take on South Africa in a two-Test series commencing June 28.
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