chosen to play for Matabeleland school cricket team in a match in 1994 against touring Dean Close School from England where he impressed with the ball taking four wickets being the chief destroyer of the Dean Close team which was bowled out for more 72. His impressive bowling performance earned him a scholarship to play for Dean Close in 1995 English season at the age of 17. He received the nickname "Pommie" while he was pursuing his studies at the Dean Close School in England due to his first name Mpumelelo which they found hard to pronounce. Career Mbangwa's rise to prominence was all the more remarkable as he had no family background in cricket. A little short of the top pace, he was primarily a line-and-length bowler, using both seam and swing, with the away-swinger his stock ball. He spent a year at school in England, and in 1996 he went to Madras for coaching by Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation; on his return he was offered a place in the Plascon Academy in South Africa, which he attended from April to September 1996. A surprise choice for the Zimbabwe tour of Pakistan in 1996–97, he made his Test debut after the first choice bowlers Heath Streak and Eddo Brandes were injured but made the most of his opportunity, taking the vital wickets of Ijaz Ahmed and Wasim Akram despite Zimbabwe losing the match by 10 wickets. But thereafter he struggled to maintain consistency, and his lack of pace meant that he was easy picking for international batsmen. He drifted in and out of the side, before disappearing from the international scene. He was also well known for his brief yet important unbeaten innings of four runs in a Test match against Sri Lanka in 1998 batting at number 10 where his resilient patient innings at the crease helped Andy Flower to score Test century, meanwhile on the other hand Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya were still threatening with the ball. Zimbabwe had lost eight wickets in that innings when Andy Flower was still in the crease on 91. Andy Flower also fondly referred to him as "Pomster" during the match when he urged Pommie to not throw his wicket away while Flower was nearing the milestone. He was selected to the Zimbabwean squad for the 50 over cricket tournament at the 1998 Commonwealth Games where Zimbabwe