England Next Gen: How Tawanda Muyeye overcame adversity to target international honours

Tawanda Muyeye has scored 430 runs in six County Championship games for Kent in 2023 and currently averages 39.09

Throughout the 2023 Hundred, BBC Sport is running a feature series called England Next Gen, designed to look at players who may make the step up to international cricket in the next few years. Next up is Oval Invincibles and Kent batter Tawanda Muyeye.

"Am I late?" asks Tawanda Muyeye as he sits fixing his camera in an Ice Cube shirt.

This is just a couple of hours before training for his new team Oval Invincibles, which includes England superstars such as Jason Roy and the Curran brothers.

Away from cricket grounds, you will often find Muyeye choosing different outfits, supporting Manchester United and watching batting videos of Sir Viv Richards.

Ask the 22-year-old who his sporting heroes are and he opts for Rafael Nadal, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

It came as a surprise when one of his cricketing heroes, Kevin Pietersen, commented on a video of Muyeye's batting which was doing the rounds on social media.

"It was pretty cool," Muyeye tells BBC Sport. "I've met him once or twice; we exchanged some texts and had a phone call. He's been very helpful.

"He thought I should continue to believe in my abilities and not the change the way I play.

"He's obviously a superstar, I'd love to learn as much from him as I can and it was very cool of him to make time for me."

The batter, like many before him, wants to replicate the success of Pietersen and the aggressive and entertaining manner in which he played.

"He showed a lot of people that you can always do things your own way," says Muyeye.

"I'm sure he made so many mistakes, but he didn't ever go into a shell, and he carried on just doing things his way.

"You look at England now, you know it's OK to be different. That's the biggest lesson I've learned: you're allowed to be you as long as you're able to deal with things when they get tough."

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'I was lucky - we weren't short of cricket'

Born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe, Muyeye spent much of his early childhood playing tape-ball cricket with his brother, who introduced him to the sport - while their parents were often called into action to clear up broken glass from smashed windows as he tried to replicate his heroes.

"In the past it was Viv Richards so I've watched Fire in Babylon and I found him pretty cool [and] I also watch a lot of footage on YouTube and then modern day my favourites would be Babar Azam and Kane Williamson. I like Joe Root and Ben Stokes as well."

Muyeye also watched plenty of South Africa matches and credits them for being one of the sources for his love of the game - including superstars like Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith who have made their mark in cricketing history.

Muyeye spent some of his early teenage years at a top boarding school in Zimbabwe and had the platform to improve his batting.

"I went to a good school with good facilities, I was lucky because I had a few dedicated coaches, we weren't short of cricket I don't think," he says.

With some of his family already in the UK after they were granted refugee status due to the human rights violations in Zimbabwe, Muyeye came to the UK just days before his 17th birthday.

'Cricket was always number one'

Before moving countries and after a lucky break when a team-mate dropped out from a scholarship, Muyeye decided to write to Eastbourne College in the hope they would give him a place.

"I just gave them a little bit of background on me, the academics and a few cricket stats and they invited me to the school," he says.

"I got the impression you have to be all-rounded to come to boarding schools here, and I did play other sports, but cricket was always number one."

It was at the college where he started asking questions and interest surrounding his ability picked up. He scored more than 1,000 runs in 2019 and won the coveted Wisden's school cricketer of the year award in 2020.

"It was pretty cool because it was lockdown, everyone was pretty down about it so for my family and me that was something to at least cheer about," he says.

Muyeye says coaches Rob Ferley and James Tredwell "were amazing", with Ferley "always making sure I had a good balance of academics and cricket".

"It wasn't a difficult adjustment, he [Ferley] instilled and reminded me of everything my parents had taught me," said Muyeye.

"I don't think I would have gone down the professional cricket route if it wasn't for Eastbourne."

Before signing his first professional contract with Kent in 2021, Muyeye was granted the right to remain in the UK until 2026.

After making his debut for the county, he has gone from strength to strength.

A powerful hitter with quick hands, Muyeye has scored five fifties in 16 first-class matches and at the first mention of his first hundred for Kent, when he scored 179 against Northamptonshire in June, his eyes light up.

"It was pretty good because I literally just didn't know when it was going to come.

"I've got a few starts but to get the first one out of the way was a bit of a relief."

Playing in The Ashes the aim

He has pledged his international allegiance to England but due to his present visa situation is currently not eligible.

With the constant links to England and interest mounting Muyeye will have to wait a little longer to play international cricket and feature in an Ashes series, which remains his biggest goal.

"Who wouldn't want to play in the Ashes? It's probably the best thing ever. The Ashes in England is such a big thing, and everyone gets up for it," says Muyeye.

"So that would be pretty cool but it's so far ahead and you never know what can happen tomorrow so just focus on the day you're at today.

"It's weird because you don't expect these things to happen. I was in the second team not too long ago.

"My biggest goal is to obviously play Test cricket. Playing international cricket is a big thing, every cricketer wants to do that and that part is not smooth sailing but hopefully at some time I get there and if I don't then that's OK as long as I give it the best shot."