Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwean cricket team is a national cricket team representing Zimbabwe. It is administered by Zimbabwe Cricket (formerly known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union or ZCU). Zimbabwe is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International status.

History

In common with all the other full members of the I.C.C., Zimbabwe had a cricket team before it achieved Test status.

A brief summary of key moments:

• Rhodesia was represented in the South African domestic cricket tournament, the Currie Cup, between the wars, and then again from 1946.

• Following independence in 1980, the country began to play more international cricket.

• On 21 July 1981, Zimbabwe was elected an associate member of the ICC.

• Zimbabwe then participated in the 1983 Cricket World Cup, as well as the 1987 and 1992 events.

• Test status

  Zimbabwe played its first Test match in 1992 (against India at Harare resulting in a draw), becoming the ninth Test nation.

  Zimbabwe’s early Test performances were consistently weak, leading to suggestions that they had been granted Test status prematurely. In the one-day arena, however, the team soon became competitive, if not particularly strong. In particular, world respect was gained for their fielding ability. After a series of poor Test performances following the resignation of several senior players, the Zimbabwean team was voluntarily suspended from Test cricket in late 2005 by its cricket board, with ICC encouragement.

  In August 2011, Zimbabwe resumed playing Test cricket when they hosted Bangladesh in a one-off match, almost six years after their last Test. Zimbabwe were the winners, beating Bangladesh by 130 runs.

• 1990s

  In spite of his team’s difficulties, wicket-keeper/batsman Andy Flower was at one point rated the best batsman in world cricket. During this era, Zimbabwe also produced such cricketers as Flower’s brother Grant, and allrounders Andy Blignaut and Heath Streak (who was later appointed national captain). Murray Goodwin was also a world-class batsman; following his retirement from international cricket, he has scored heavily for Sussex. Another world-class batsman was David Houghton, who holds the record for the highest individual test score for Zimbabwe of 266 against Sri Lanka in 1994/95. Sometime captain and middle order batsman Alistair Campbell, leg-spinning all rounder Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, and pace bowler/opener Neil Johnson were other important contributors for Zimbabwe on the world stage at this time.

  With the appearance of some quality players, a breakthrough was achieved in levels of performance in the late 1990s where the Zimbabwean team began winning Tests against other nations, which included a series win against Pakistan. Unfortunately, the political situation in Zimbabwe declined at around the same time, which had a detrimental effect on the national team’s performances.

  Zimbabwe excelled at the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup coming in fifth place in the Super Sixes, only missing out on a semi-final place due to having an inferior net run-rate than New Zealand.

• 

• The 2003 World Cup

  Increasing politicisation of cricket, including selectorial policy, along with the declining situation in Zimbabwe disrupted the 2003 Cricket World Cup, which was jointly hosted by Zimbabwe and South Africa.

  England forfeited a match scheduled to be played in Zimbabwe, risking their own progress through the competition, citing “security concerns” as their reason.

  Zimbabwean players Andy Flower and fast bowler Henry Olonga wore black armbands, for “mourning the death of democracy” in Zimbabwe. Both were immediately dismissed from the team and applied for political asylum overseas. This public political protest caused considerable embarrassment to the co-hosts and disrupted team harmony.

  Since the 2003 World Cup, with a succession of Zimbabwe’s best players ending their international careers early, a new side began to develop, featuring the likes of Travis Friend, Andy Blignaut, Hamilton Masakadza, Douglas Hondo, Craig Wishart, Ray Price, Sean Ervine, Mark Vermeulen, Tatenda Taibu, Elton Chigumbura, Prosper Utseya, Dougie Marillier, and Barney Rogers. Whilst not of the same calibre of Streak, Goodwin, and the Flower brothers, this new breed of predominantly multi-disciplined players formed a solid backbone to a competitive, if usually unsuccessful, side.

  In late 2003, Zimbabwe toured Australia in a two-match series. The series was more memorable for Australian opener Matthew Hayden‘s innings in the first Test – in which he overcame a back strain to score a then record 380 runs – than for the Zimbabwean performance.

•