There’s a gentle cadence to Tawanda Muyeye making his ground, a bearing that makes it seem as though he has all the time in the world.
Chewing gum between deliveries, eyes glinting, shoulders loose, he bats with a poised boldness, as if the game of cricket were less a contest and more a performance.
One moment he’s standing tall in the crease to punch the ball off the back foot that feels more instinct than textbook, the next he is moving across the stumps to ramp the seasoned David Payne over fine leg.
When Muyeye flung his fists aloft after pummeling Manchester Originals at his favourite ground, The Oval, it spoke of a journey written across two contrasting cricket frontiers.
Cricket Paper writer Megh Mandaliya looks into his background…
Harare was where it began for Muyeye, learning cricket alongside his elder brother. Their makeshift matches were played with tiny bats and balls fashioned out of empty deodorant roll-ons.
When Zimbabwe’s Under-19 selectors passed him over in 2016, Muyeye responded not with despair but with an email to Eastbourne College in Sussex seeking a scholarship.
In the initial days, Muyeye was ineligible to play any county pathway cricket owing to the refugee status, but his talent still managed to feature in some exhibition matches with Sussex.
2019 was the year Muyeye truly announced himself, piling up 1,112 runs at an average of 69.50, including 56 sixes in the Under-17 County Cup for Sussex.
In the following year, he joined the elite list of Jos Buttler, James Taylor, and Jonny Bairstow after being awarded the prestigious Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year.
Kent CCC snapped up Muyeye after his record-breaking schools season, with the right-hander making his First-Class and List A debuts in the 2021 season before breaking into the Spitfires’ side the following year for the T20 Blast.
Opportunities were scarce in his first county season, but he made them count with an impressive 89 against Middlesex, which was his lone half-century of the campaign.
Muyeye recorded three half-centuries in the 2023 T20 Blast before getting his first taste of franchise flair, signing with the Oval Invincibles as a wildcard pick in The Hundred.
The top-order batter also became the only uncapped English player in the 14th season of Australia’s Big Bash League after being acquired by the Melbourne Renegades.
Flashes of brilliance, demands of consistency
The Kent batter was largely a benchwarmer for his first two seasons of The Hundred, with the Invincibles’ top order stacked with seasoned campaigners like Jason Roy and Dawid Malan.
After a couple of quiet campaigns from the senior batters, Tom Moody, the head coach, decided it was time to shake things up.
Muyeye put in the hard yards to secure a permanent spot in the Invincibles’ playing XI this year.
His T20 batting average has soared in recent years, climbing from 13.5 in 2022 to 18.9 in 2023, then to 22.3 in 2024, before exploding to 35.2 in 2025, a 58% increase that highlights his brilliance.
The 24-year-old is also the second-highest run-scorer in this year’s T20 Blast, racking up 516 runs at an impressive strike rate of 142.15.
Playing alongside Will Jacks, Muyeye has helped the pair record two 50+ opening stands in four games this season, a feat that the Invincibles haven’t seen since 2021.
When Muyeye pummelled IPL 2025’s second-highest wicket-taker, Noor Ahmad, for four off five of his first six balls, sending them all across the ground, it signalled his audacious approach and announced that he is here to stay.
In many ways, Muyeye has solved the Invincibles’ opening dilemma and could stake a strong claim to lead them to a third consecutive title.
However, the real test for the youngster lies in sustaining performance week after week, match after match.
While Muyeye shows the temperament of a Test-calibre batter, he will be tasked with navigating the fame and fortune of franchise cricket first.
In his early days, inconsistent returns saw him oscillate between the 22 yards and the bench, but the last year has been nothing short of a magic run for the 24-year-old.
Although a national contract seems far-fetched for Muyeye, he stands out as one of the few all-format talents in the current circuit, and if nurtured correctly, he could thrive on the international stage for England.
By Megh Mandaliya
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
