The Sunday Mail
National Cricket team coach Dav Whatmore said he liked him the first time he saw him walk out to bat, while Brendan Taylor has called him a ‘‘great asset’’.
At one point that Zimbabwe Cricket asset’s fledgling career was in mire during a period he described as ‘‘stagnant’’.
But fortunes changed when Solomon Mire went to Australia in 2009.
He even featured in the 2013-14 Big Bash playing for the Melbourne Renegades where he was teammates with the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Peter Siddle.
So, from that ‘‘stagnant’’ mire, Mire will play at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, conditions he is familiar with.
Does that make him Zimbabwe’s key man?
“I don’t know if that makes me a key man,” the all-rounder who plays Premier Club Cricket for Essendon in Melbourne, told The Sunday Mail on the sidelines of a Pro 50 Championship match between his home franchise Mid West Rhinos and Mash Eagles in Kwekwe last week.
“It just makes me a confident player in those conditions; I sort of know what’s going to happen with the wickets.
“Anyone can adjust to those conditions. So, to say I am the key man will be putting a lot of pressure on myself,” added Mire.
He will be one of the Zimbabwean players making a maiden appearance at the global showpiece and Mire is doing so having had only four One Day International matches to his name.
In those four innings, on two occasions he raised his bat after reaching half centuries; this was during the forgettable tour of Bangladesh last year.
Mire is keen to make the ‘‘privilege’’ of playing at the World Cup count.
“I have my own goals; to set milestones and score runs, which is probably the first thing.
“It’s the biggest stage, the highest accolade you can get to represent your country and I feel privileged to be able to represent my country at a tournament of that magnitude.
“Everyone in the squad has performed at some stage; they have taken wickets and scored hundreds. I am yet to score my first hundred,” said Mire, who has enormous hitting power that he bludgeoned one of the biggest sixes at the Harare Sports Club nets that flew from the main nets (Golf Course End) to the Gate 3 Car park during a practice last week.
“The way we measure success is different; for some people it’s a little bit of the taste, for me getting to 50 was big for the first time and I am grateful, but at the same time once one is in, they have to make it count.
“I want to score more, finish the job and not only get the team in a position to win.
“We have to find hunger somewhere, if we don’t have it already,” said the Kwekwe-born star who reckons pace will not be a major challenge for the Zimbabwean batsmen.
“When the ball is coming quicker, it’s actually meant to be easy because one would have less movements to make. All they have got to do is watch the ball.
“It’s easier said than done; when one is tested under pressure they actually stand up.”
Playing in Australia where quick bowlers are plenty like the eucalyptus might be reason why he sounds confident about facing pace.
It’s in Australia where his career boomed.
“It was a dream come true when I got there (Australia). Those are the goals I set myself, to try and play at the highest level.
“It was a lot of hard work that got me to play at that level and performances that everyone noticed.
“After featuring for the Under-19s, there was a period I was stagnant; I did not feel I was improving . . . something was lacking in my game. During that time (2009), I felt I was not progressing.
“I got the opportunity to go to Australia and I got what I was looking for; club cricket with international cricketers was something big.”
Well, bigger is even the World Cup and it can only get better for the rarely winning Chevrons and if they beat minnows Ireland and UAE (United Arab Emirates), then maybe they can conjure an upset.
On such expectations Mire said: “Once something is termed international, it’s elite; that’s the best there is.
“So, you looking at the best Irish cricketers, the best UAE players and at the end of the day one can’t think they are better than these guys on paper or we have beaten them before. It’s about that particular moment.
“Our guys should focus more on the games thought to be easy and relax on the more difficult ones.”
Mire is in the latter stages of his groin injury recovery and won’t be bowling. But when he fully recovers, his team would want him to be an asset Taylor said he is.
And further be the player not only Whatmore will like but many more from across the world because of his fantastic display of the gentleman’s game.
