BATSMAN Hamilton Masakadza has been appointed Zimbabwe’s new cricket captain, replacing Elton Chigumbura who resigned on the recent tour of Bangladesh.
The 32-year-old Masakadza is the most experienced player on the Zimbabwe team having played 29 tests and 165 one-day internationals. Leg-spinner Graeme Cremer is the new vice-captain.
“Both Masakadza and Cremer are senior players who have shown their leadership abilities working with previous captains.
“We have no doubt they will be successful in their substantive posts, which come at a time when both are in the top 10 of the MRF Tyres ICC T20 Player Rankings for batsmen and bowlers respectively,” said ZC managing director Wilfred Mukondiwa when he announced the board appointments.
Masakadza will captain in both tests and limited-overs games, with Zimbabwe deciding to do away with separate captains for the different formats.
He was previously dropped from the team for a loss of form but was one of Zimbabwe’s best players in recent one-day and Twenty20 series against Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Chigumbura’s decision to step down was perhaps spurred by the defeats his team suffered at the hands of associate nation Afghanistan in both the ODIs as well as the T20Is.
However, he quit the post on a better note by taking an impressive 2-2 series tie against Bangladesh in the 20-over game in their backyard. Masakadza has the daunting role of building the team from there.
Test cricket’s bottom-ranked team, Zimbabwe hasn’t played a test since late 2014 and hasn’t won a test since 2013.Advertisement