Hamilton Masakadza

A teenager who took the world by storm, Hamilton Masakadza is a classy top-order batsman for the Zimbabwe national team. Masakadza made his first-class debut at the age of 16 and scored 53 runs in the first innings which was almost half of the team’s total. He was only one of the two players to reach double figures, then.

Following his good run in first-class cricket at the domestic level, Masakadza was selected for the national side in 2001 to play against West Indies in the second and last Test of the series. He went on to score a brilliant 119 runs in the second innings at Harare and helped his side draw the match. During a five-match ODI series between Zimbabwe and Kenya in October 2009, Masakadza scored two 150-plus scores in one week, 156 in the first match of the series, and then 178 not out in the last match.

During the third ODI match between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in November 2014, both Tamim Iqbal and Masakadza were found guilty for offensive gestures and language and were reprimanded for breaching ICC’s code of conduct. The Harare-born has achieved marginally better results in Test cricket, but has generally flattered to deceive and has had a tendency to blow hot and cold.

In September 2019, Masakadza announced that he would retire from international cricket, following the conclusion of the 2019–20 Bangladesh Tri-Nation Series. Later next month, he was appointed as the director of cricket in Zimbabwe cricket in October 2019 to transform the game both on and off the field.

(As of May 2021)