Zimbabwe National Cricket Team Guide
The Zimbabwe cricket team are full ICC members and the governing body is Zimbabwe Cricket. Since 1981, the Zimbabwe national cricket team has appeared in a number of ICC tournaments including the ICC ODI World Cup, the T2O World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy.
History Of The Zimbabwe National Cricket Team
Formerly Rhodesia, Zimbabwe had a long history of competitive cricket playing initially in South Africa’s domestic competition until gaining independence. In 1981, the Zimbabwe national cricket team became an ICC associate member playing in its first ICC ODI World Cup in 1983. By the mid 1990’s the Zimbabwe cricket team had grown to become a very competitive team on the world stage, with several players regarded as world class.
Political unrest by 2003 triggered a decline which was to steepen as the decade went on. Standards subsided and political and financial issues worsened, resulting in the Zimbabwe national cricket team being suspended from Test cricket for a period of six years from 2006. Recent results have shown signs of encouragement after a decent performance in the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup and beating Australia in a ODI.
Where Does The Zimbabwe National Cricket Team Play?
Two of the most well known traditional cricket venues in which the Zimbabwe national cricket team play at are Harare Sports Club and Queen Sports Club, both of which are in Bulawayo.
Former Captains Of The Zimbabwe National Cricket Team
Andy Flower is regarded as one of the finest cricketers to ever represent the Zimbabwe national cricket team. In fact he was ranked number Test batsman in the world for a period in 2001. He averaged over fifty in Test cricket, a benchmark for world class players. Also an excellent wicket keeper, he led the Zimbabwe national cricket team with distinction for 7 years.
Tetenda Taibu became the youngest Test captain to ever take the reins when he was announced as skipper of the Zimbabwe cricket team in 2004 aged just 20. However, he was to retire from cricket by the age of 29 though.
Top Run Scorers In Zimbabwe National Cricket Team History
World class wicket batsman Andy Flower scored 11,580 runs for the Zimbabwe national cricket team between 1992-2003, just ahead in the list of his brother, Grant.
Top Wicket Takers In Zimbabwe National Cricket Team History
Fast bowler Heath Streak took 453 wickets for the Zimbabwe national cricket team during an International career which spanned 1993-2005.
Memorable Games For The Zimbabwe National Cricket Team
“We murdered them” said England cricket team coach David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd after the drawn Test match in Bulawayo in 1996 when. In his opinion, the Zimbabwe national cricket team used negative tactics which had slowed down the game, preventing an England victory. These words were to come back and haunt Lloyd in the following three match ODI series. One team was actually ‘murdered’ this time, but it was England 3-0. The humiliation was complete by game three when part time cricketer, part time chicken farmer Eddo Brandes took a hat trick during a spell of 5/25 to dismiss England for a paltry 118.
At times politics and sport transcend each other and this was the case during the 2003 Cricket World Cup jointly hosted by South Africa and Zimbabwe. During Zimbabwe’s first game at Harare Sports Club against Namibia, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga wore black armbands to symbolise ‘the death of democracy in Zimbabwe’. The act was widely regarded as brave, in fact the both men were forced to flee Zimbabwe and relocate to England. Despite the Australia cricket team winning the tournament, the Zimbabwe cricket team still won a rain affected match but their gestures were far bigger than the result.
