It is eight years and two World Cups back since Zimbabwe's Henry Olonga made his famous black armband protest against Robert Mugabe's political regime. He remains proud to have made a stand even though it cost him his career and home.
"There are no regrets," Olonga told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"It was something that changed my life and taught me a lot about myself and my country. I am incredibly lucky to have done it with a man of the calibre of Andy Flower, who is a fantastic human being."
Olonga, 34, is aware his actions along with then team-mate and current England team director Flower, when they wore black armbands to mourn "the death of democracy" in their homeland at a World Cup match in South Africa, will dominate his legacy much more than any wickets he claimed as a fast bowler.
He is now settled in London with wife Tara and his two-month-old daughter.
Nowadays, Olonga is a singer, public speaker, photographer, art worker, author and occasional cricketer. Busy but not quite the high-profile life he once knew as an international sportsman and later, political activist.
Olonga, Zimbabwe's first black cricketer, is unsure of his status now back home but accepts speculation of treason charges and a possible death sentence may be true.
He is unsure whether he will ever return but feels content nonetheless.
"When you go out on a limb and put your head above the parapet and there are consequences. I don't think that is a time for regret," he added.
"It is a time for reflection, to weigh up what you have lost but what you have gained also."
"I look back on that day with a sense of fulfilment. I did something more important than just looking after myself. I represented people who didn't have a voice. So when I look in the mirror I know I stood up for something I truly believed in."
Olonga rarely sees Flower, despite both living in England, but acknowledged the special bond they will always share.
"We are not bosom buddies but I like to think we have a huge amount of respect for each other because of what we did together," he said.
The current Zimbabwe team has struggled at the World Cup, losing three of four matches so far and only managing a win against the second-tier Canadians. Their next group game is against Pakistan on Monday.
The team is a shadow of the competitive unit it was when qualifying from the group stage at the 1999 and 2003 editions, when Olonga played.
With no television coverage of the World Cup in the Olonga household, he has seen little of the action but has followed news and results from Asia. He is aware of the team's plight and admitted to being "a quiet fan from a distance".
Cricket board politics played a significant part in its decline.
The most difficult period was in 2004 when 14 predominantly white players such as former captain Heath Streak left the cricket system citing mismanagement and racism, Olonga said.
"That put Zimbabwe cricket on a path of self-discovery because we withdrew from test cricket as we weren't good enough and were left with a young, predominantly black side that couldn't compete at the highest level. They had to start rebuilding."
"Zimbabwe was left languishing at the bottom of the test-playing nations, struggling to make its mark after this crisis."
"They have rebuilt quite nicely and the same goes for the country, but I would guess that period set our cricket back by five or six years, due to the shenanigans of the board for getting rid of experienced players."
For Olonga, international cricket is long gone. After his premature retirement at 26, he does not reflect with any bitterness at missed opportunities in failing to add to his 68 wickets from 30 tests and his 58 victims from 50 one-day internationals.
He is happy with his lot, and wrote about his journey in an autobiography "Blood, Sweat and Treason" last year.
"If I had stayed on for another five or six years I might have taken another 100 or so wickets, which would have been nice, but in the big scheme of things, I think getting the message out was worth the sacrifice," he said.
"I wasn't a great cricketer, I could be erratic, though on my day I was capable of upsetting the applecart. But preserving my career was not like Shane Warne saving his. I was never going to set any records."
"The arts is the path I have chosen for the rest of my life. I just hope the gods will smile on me and I can be successful."
