Cricket is one of the fastest growing sports disciplines in Rwanda. The sport was introduced in Rwanda after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

It was brought to Rwandans who grew up playing cricket in exile in neighbouring countries like Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and returned to the land of their ancestors in the 90s.

In 1999, a small number of former exiles founded the Rwanda Cricket Association (RCA), before Rwanda became an Affiliate Member of the International Cricket Council in 2003.

The first cricket ground in Rwanda was set up on the site of the infamous massacre (during the Genocide) portrayed in the award-winning film, ‘Shooting Dogs’. Before a ball could be bowled, two-metre-high grass was cleared, revealing the remains of some of the Genocide victims.

This ground, which lies in the present-day Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre-Kigali, or simply IPRC-Kigali, is still being used to date. At this ground, many Rwandan boys and girls have since discovered their previously hidden talents – in playing cricket. They include national team captain Eric Dusingizimana, who holds the Guinness World Record for the longest time spent batting in the net (51 hours).

There is also Cathia Uwamahoro, who holds the same record in the women category having batted for 26 hours. These two have been profiled in the past in these pages but in this issue, Saturday Sport profiles another young talent, Don de Dieu Mugisha.

At 21, the Kigali Cricket Club and Rwanda international has also played for other top local clubs.

Mugisha, an all-rounder, is a right-hand batter and nicknamed "Tricky” because of his famous tricky ‘Off Breaks’ bowling style.

Early days

Born September 7, 1996 in Bujumbura, Burundi to Joseph Gatabazi and Imelde Nijyimbere, Mugisha is the fourth child in the family of 10 — three girls and seven boys.

He attended Horizon Primary School in Kacyiru, a suburb in City of Kigali and later went to ETO-Kicukiro (which has since morphed into IPRC-Kigali) for secondary education and completed his Ordinary Level there before joining Lycee de Kigali for his Advanced Level education pursuing Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology (MCB).

He is now at University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology where he is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Design.

He works part time at Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) Rwanda as a facilitator in business development study.

Like many kids, Mugisha grew up playing football and was always obsessed with goalkeeping which he largely attributes to the sluggishness that characterised him as a young child.

"I liked football as a kid and my favourite position was goalkeeping, because I was not all that fit to run around the pitch as an outfield player,” he said.

Football remained his favourite sport until he joined secondary in 2006, when he discovered the ‘gentleman’s game’ (cricket).

As earlier indicated, at ETO-Kicukiro (now IPRC-Kigali) where he did his first half of secondary education from is the only place in Rwanda that had a cricket ground. It still is. A new state-of-the-art international stadium is currently under construction in Gahanga, Kicukiro District. It is set to be inaugurated in October.

"I found football very popular and we had about six football pitches but I couldn’t break in, so I decided to join the ‘very unpopular’ sport cricket,” Mugisha recalled.

"I saw cricket as a smart game, unlike football, in cricket, players were playing in uniform, most players were foreigners (mostly Indians) and because English was the medium of communication, I fell in love with cricket and decided to try it out.”

He added: "It wasn’t an easy start, and I remember getting my first bat as a gift from a certain white man in my senior three, which was a very big motivation.”

"I started training alone batting with small stones because I did have the balls, so one day I met this guy called Andrew Kayitera, who introduced to real cricket. He started training me, he taught me the basics and I picked up quickly,” he told Saturday Sport.

Fortunately, when he joined Lycee de Kigali in 2008, he found cricket among the games played at the school, and he continued from where he had left off. Playing career

In 2009, Mugisha helped Lycee de Kigali to finish second in the inter-school tournament and, in 2010, they won the title.

In 2010, he got his first national team call-up to represent the country at the Africa U-19 Division Two tournament in Swaziland where Rwanda finished second runners up behind winners Nigeria and hosts Swaziland.

That same year, he was signed by Impala Titans cricket club where he played for one season before Dugout CC came calling the following season (2011) where he spent two seasons and won one Computer Point T20 title.

In 2013, Mugisha joined Right Guard CC and spent there one season before he was signed by Telugu Royals in 2014. In 2015, he returned to Right Guards until 2017 when he joined Kigali Cricket Club and led them to this season’s V.R NAIDU T20 title.

On the national duty, he was been a member of U-19 team since 2010 up to 2015. In 2011, Mugisha was part of the senior team that won the first African region qualifying tournament, ICC World T20, in Ghana.

In 2014, he was also part of the team that took part in U-19 World Cup qualifiers in Zambia where they finished runners up behind Tanzania. Best and worst moments

He said: "My best moment was winning my first trophy in Ghana in 2011, seeing my country’s flag being raised in a foreign country was really emotional and very exciting.”

"My worst moment was in 2012, when we went to South Africa to play in the ICC Africa Division Two tournament and out of the five games, we managed just one win, it was really a disappointing moment.”

His plans for the future?

"I want to become one of the best crickets that Rwanda has ever produced and I believe it is possible now that in the next few months our new cricket stadium will be unveiled. The stadium will a good platform to show our talent. And when I grow a little older, I want to play golf.”

Appreciation, his captain’s take

He said: "My sincere appreciation goes to Andrew Kayitera, there is nothing I can pay him but he introduced to this game. Another person is Bob Songa, he is a very close friend of mine. And, last but not least, former RAC president Charles Haba, who has done a great job to develop the sport in Rwanda.”

His captain at the national team Eric Dusingizimana says of Mugisha: "He is really a fighter, he trains hard, he sets his own goal and very principled, he is a very good batsman and all-rounder and, if he maintains that, there is no doubt that he can go on to become one of the very best we have ever had in the country.”

editorial@newtimes.co.rw