Hamilton Masakadza

Hamilton Masakadza (born 9 August 1983) is a Zimbabwean cricketer. He was the captain of Zimbabwe until his sacking from the post, following the Zimbabwe Cricket board's review of the team's poor performance at the 2016 ICC World T20.^[1] He is a right-handed batsman and occasional right-arm medium-pace bowler. His brothers, Shingirai Masakadza and Wellington Masakadza, also play for Zimbabwe; all three have played domestically for the Mountaineers. He is one of Zimbabwe's leading run scorers in international formats.

Early career

In February 2000, aged just 16 and still a schoolboy at Churchill School, Masakadza became the first black Zimbabwean to score a first-class century. He made his Test debut soon after, in July 2001, against the West Indies in Harare. In his team's second innings, he made 119, thus becoming - at the age of 17 years and 354 days - the youngest player to make a century on his Test debut. However, he only held this record for less than two months, before it was broken by Bangladesh's Mohammad Ashraful.

After briefly putting his professional cricket career on hold to study at the University of the Free State, Masakadza was recalled to the national team in late 2004 following the rebel crisis, and has maintained a regular presence since.

International career

During the team's six-year exile from Test cricket (2005–2011), he increased his ability in One Day Internationals. His first century in this format came on 14 August 2009, against Bangladesh in Bulawayo, and in October 2009 he made scores of 156 and 178 not out in a home ODI series against Kenya - thus becoming the first Zimbabwean to make two scores of 150 or more in ODIs, and the first player from any country to make two such scores in the same series.^[2] He has the record for scoring the most number of runs in a 5 match ODI series(467)^[3]

When Zimbabwe made its return to Test cricket in August 2011, playing a one-off match against Bangladesh in Harare, Masakadza made 104 in the first innings - thus making his second Test century ten years after his first.^[4] In 2015, he made his first appearance in the senior Cricket World Cup, having previously made two appearances in the Under-19 version (in 2000 and 2002).

In 2014 he along with Sikandar Raza set the record for the highest ever partnership for Zimbabwe in ODIs. (224 for the opening wicket)^[5]

As of November 2015, Masakadza is Zimbabwe's sixth-highest Test run-scorer and fifth-highest ODI run-scorer. He is also the country's leading Twenty20 International run-scorer, becoming the first Zimbabwean to reach 1,000 runs in this format on 29 September 2015.^[6]

In Zimbabwe's tour of Bangladesh in January 2016, Masakadza set a world record for the most runs scored in a T20I bilateral series, with a total of 222 across four games.^[7]

Following India's tour to Zimbabwe in June 2016, Masakadza became the first Zimbabwean cricketer to play in 50 Twenty20 International matches.^[8]

International centuries

Test centuries

Hamilton Masakadza's Test centuries
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
1	119	1	West Indies	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	2001	Drawn
2	104	16	Bangladesh	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	2011	Won
3	111*	23	Bangladesh	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	2013	Lost
4	158	28	Bangladesh	Khulna, Bangladesh	Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium	2014	Lost

One Day International centuries

Hamilton Masakadza's One Day International centuries
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
1	102	69	Bangladesh	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	Queens Sports Club	2009	Won
2	156	72	Kenya	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	2009	Won
3	178*	76	Kenya	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	2009	Won
4	110	165	Afghanistan	Sharjah, United Arab Emirates	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	2016	Lost
5	111	176	Sri Lanka	Hambantota, Sri Lanka	Mahinda Rajapaksa Cricket Stadium	2017	Lost

International Awards

Test Cricket

Man of the match awards

• In this table Ct., refers to the Catches and St. refers to the Stumping

One-Day International Cricket

Player of the series awards

#	Series	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	Kenya in Zimbabwe	2009/10	467 runs, 3 wickets. (5 Matches)	Zimbabwe Won the series 4-1.[10]
2	Zimbabwe in Sri Lanka	2017	258 runs at 51.60, 1x100, 1x50; 2 Ct. (5 Matches)	Zimbabwe won the series 3–2.[11]

Man of the Match awards

S No	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	Sri Lanka	Harare Sports Club, Harare	24 November 2008	77 (71 balls, 7x4, 2x6) ; DNB	Sri Lanka won by 5 runs.[12]
2	Kenya	Harare Sports Club, Harare	12 October 2009	156 (151 balls, 11x4, 6x6) ; 1-0-7-0	Zimbabwe won by 91 runs.[13]
3	Kenya	Harare Sports Club, Harare	18 October 2009	178 (167 balls, 17x4, 4x6)	Zimbabwe won by 142 runs.[14]
4	Pakistan	Harare Sports Club, Harare	27 August 2013	2-0-17-0; 85 (104 balls, 9x4, 1x6)	Zimbabwe won by 7 wickets.[15]
5	Afghanistan	Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo	22 July 2014	84 (93 balls, 9x4, 2x6); 1-0-6-0	Afghanistan won by 2 wickets.[16]
6	Afghanistan	Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah	2 January 2016	83 (138 balls, 6x4, 3x6); DNB ; 2 ct.	Zimbabwe won by 117 runs.[17]

Twenty20 International Cricket

Man of the match awards

#	Series	Date	Opposition	Match Performance	Result
1	Quadrangular Series in Canada	13 October 2008	Canada	79 (52 balls, 8x4, 3x6); DNB	Zimbabwe won by 109 runs.[18]
2	Bangladesh in Zimbabwe	11 May 2013	Bangladesh	59 (48 balls, 4x4, 1x6); 1-0-7-0	Zimbabwe won by 6 runs.[19]
3	Walton T20 Cricket Series	15 January 2016	Bangladesh	79 (53 balls, 9x4, 2x6); DNB	Bangladesh won by 4 wickets.[20]
4	Walton T20 Cricket Series	22 January 2016	Bangladesh	93* (58 balls, 8x4, 5x6); DNB	Zimbabwe won by 18 runs.[21]

Player of the series awards

References

External links

• Hamilton Masakadza at ESPNcricinfo
• Hamilton Masakadza at CricketArchive (subscription required)