The ManicaPost
On the point with Aubrey Kamba —
IT has been 24 years since Zimbabwe played their first Test match. There have been a lot of ups and downs for us to get to here. It has been a long journey with a few celebrations and a lot of walking away from the field without victory. In this article, I will look at the journey to the 100th Test match.
Teams played against
From 1992 up until now we have managed to play against all teams that have Test playing status which is a good thing. We have played more Test matches against Pakistan more than any other team and 17 to be precise.
Victories and losses
In the 100 tests we have played, we surely have taken a few scalps and plenty of scalps taken from us. We have won 11 matches of the 100 and lost 62 and drew 26. The 100th Test has not been decided yet and it is my wish that we win this one. This surely shows a very poor winning average, but better than Bangladesh though.
Highest individual batting records in a match
Given our shortcomings in the game with poor administration we have had really good cricketers in this country when it comes to Test cricket and some of them highly ranked on the international scene.
Batting records are very important to any a team as the bowling records. The individual with highest batting records in a single match is David Houghton with 266 runs against Sri Lanka in 1995 at home in Bulawayo. He is followed by the legendary Andy Flower who has 232 against India in Nagpur in 2001.
Most career runs by batsmen
This is undisputed as the lead is taken by the all-time legend, Andy Flower who played 63 matches, 112 innings, 19 not outs, an average of 51.54 and scoring 4794 runs all in all. What a feat. It is a family affair with the player sitting on Number Two being Grant Flower, brother to Andy.
He played 67 tests, 123 innings, six not outs, an average of 29.54 scoring 3457. I hope to see the likes of Tino Mawoyo and PJ Moor surpassing this if we are going to play more tests.
Best bowling in an innings
It seems as if the year 2000 was the year for cricketers in the country with records being made by the national side. We have had many bowlers in the country and one of them is now the gaffer to the national side.
Paul Strang was one of the best bowlers in the country and proved so in Bulawayo in 2000 by taking eight wickets for 109 runs against New Zealand, something no other Zimbabwean bowler has managed to do so far. He is followed by Douglas Hondo who took six wickets for 59 against Bangladesh in 2004-5 in Dhaka.
What to know as we play 100 Test matches
A total of 11 wins for Zimbabwe in 99 Tests are more than what India and New Zealand had after 99 Tests. India had 10 wins, while New Zealand had just seven.
l 2001 – Zimbabwe’s best year in Test cricket. They won four matches that year and lost as many. The wins in 2001 constitute 36.36 percent of their total wins in Test matches. They won three matches against Bangladesh and one against India.
l 82.5 percentage of Tests Zimbabwe have lost since the start of 2002 (33 out of 40). Till the end of 2001, they had lost only 29 out of 59 (49 percent). Their draw percentage till 2001 was a healthy 39 percent, but since 2002 it has dropped to 7.5 percent.
l Six wins against Bangladesh, out of the 11 Tests Zimbabwe have won. Their next best record is against Pakistan – three wins – followed by two against India.
lEight Test wins for Zimbabwe in Harare, out of the 32 Tests they have played there. This has been their best ground by far; they have not won more than one Test at any other venue.
l 17 – Zimbabwe’s win percentage at home. Out of 54 matches, they have won nine and lost 29. In 45 away Tests, though, they have won only two and lost 33. The last away Test that Zimbabwe won was way back in 2001 versus Bangladesh.
l4 794 Test runs for Andy Flower. He is Zimbabwe’s most prolific run-scorer and has by far the best average among all Zimbabwe cricketers. The next highest aggregate is 3457, by his brother Grant Flower. Grant, though, has won the most man-of-the-match awards in Tests for Zimbabwe, along with Brendon Taylor – both have won two each.
l216 – Number of wickets for Heath Streak. He is the only Zimbabwe bowler to take more than 100 Test wickets. The next best is Ray Price with 80. Streak is also Zimbabwe’s most successful captain, with four wins and 11 defeats – a win loss ratio of 0.363.
l68 percentage of Zimbabwe’s Tests that Grant Flower played in – 67 out of 99. It is the highest percentage of a team’s total matches that any player has played.
l13 – Instances of Zimbabwe not winning a single Test in a calendar year, out of the 19 years in which they have played at least one Test. Even though they played their first Test in 1992, there was a period between 2006 and 2010 when they didn’t play a single Test.
It is my hope that we will learn from what we did right in the past so that we can pave the future for the generations to come, so that we can celebrate a player playing 100 tests. Just like Thomas Sankara said: “DARE TO INVENT THE FUTURE”. God bless you all, and God bless Zimbabwe
For any feedback contact: +263778712404 or email: [email protected]
