The history of cricket in Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia and before 1965 Southern Rhodesia, includes Rhodesia first forming a first-class cricket team in August 1890, and the inaugural Test appearance of Zimbabwe in October 1992.
Until 1965 Rhodesia encompassed Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, but the cricket-playing population in that territory was very small.
Historical background
The modern history of Zimbabwe starts with treaties and concessions initiated by Cecil Rhodes and the British South Africa Company in 1888/9. The country was the southern part of Zambezia until that name was officially changed to Rhodesia in 1895, and in 1898 the designation Southern Rhodesia was made official. Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing British colony in 1922.
In 1953 Northern and Southern Rhodesia were reunited in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and after its dissolution in 1963, an independence movement in Southern Rhodesia was led by Ian Smith. Southern Rhodesia was renamed Rhodesia in 1965, and a unilateral declaration of independence occurred. This was declared illegal by the UK, and 15 years of controversy and sanctions followed until finally the country gained official independence as Zimbabwe in April 1980.
Cricket in Rhodesia
In cricket terms, Rhodesia was always tied to South Africa. The first recorded match in Rhodesia took place near Fort Victoria (modern Masvingo) on 16 August 1890, on a wicket of a bare twenty two yards of earth, shortly after Cecil Rhodes' Pioneer Column had formed a settlement. In the mid-1890s, the most important match of the Rhodesian domestic cricket season was Salisbury v Bulawayo. The Rhodesian Cricket Union was formed in 1898. The first English representative team, led by Lord Hawke, visited in 1898–99, with the match played on a matting wicket.
First-class cricket was not established in the colony until the Rhodesian team began taking part in South Africa's Currie Cup competition from 1904 to 1905. The initial first-class match was against Transvaal cricket team on 15–16 March 1905, at Johannesburg. Rhodesia lost by an innings and 170 runs. After this brief appearance, Rhodesia did not take part in the Currie Cup again until 1929–30. They played also in 1931–32, winning four out of five matches, but losing the cup to Western Province under the points system then in use. The Rhodesian team then did not return until 1946–47, after which they at last played regularly. The Rhodesian team toured other areas of Africa too. In 1951 they toured their northern neighbours East Africa. The first overseas team to play there. In this period, Denis Tomlinson became Rhodesia's first Test cricketer when he was selected to tour England with the South Africa national cricket team in 1935, Chris Duckworth the second for the English tour of 1955, and Tony Pithey the third against England in the home series of 1956/57.
The Logan Cup, a weekend contest between the four provinces, Matabaleland, Mashonaland, Manicaland and Midlands was played on an annual basis, later incorporating Northern Rhodesia, while in the winter months, with the farmers in fallow, Sunday Country Districts' Cricket abounded. Additionally in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in those winter months, the Stragglers, made up of a number of Mashonaland players, travelled to Blantyre for weekend matches on matting wickets against Nyasaland. In the 1961 game, Chris Duckworth scored 91 in 58 minutes.
David Lewis was the captain of the Rhodesian team for 10 years, from 1953–54 to 1963–64, and the team included players such as Colin Bland, Chris Duckworth, Godfrey Lawrence, Percy Mansell, Joe Partridge, Tony and David Pithey, Lloyd Koch and Paul Winslow. By the 1970s, the team was captained by Mike Procter and included players such as John Traicos, Duncan Fletcher, and Robin Jackman. However, despite this wealth of talent Rhodesia never won the Currie Cup. In all, 242 players represented Rhodesia in first-class and List A cricket.
The team played in 1979–80 as "Zimbabwe-Rhodesia", and left the competition for good at the close of that season after Zimbabwe officially became independent.