History of Cricket in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe To 1992 - Rhodesian Cricket

Rhodesian Cricket

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 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 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 1904–05. The initial first-class match was against Transvaal 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 to until 1946–47, after which they at last played regularly. In the intervening period, Denis Tomlinson became Rhodesia's first Test cricketer when he was selected to tour England with the South African cricket team in 1935, Chris Duckworth the second for the English tour of 1955, and Tony Pithey the third against the M.C.C in the home series of 1956 / '57...

The Logan Cup, a weekend contest between the four provinces, Matabeleland (Bulawayo), Mashonaland (Salisbury - Harare), Manicaland (Umtali- Mutare) and Midlands (Gwelo - Gweru) was played on an annual basis later incorporating Northern Rhodesia - Zambia, 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, a team sponsored by Spencer-Parker, made up of a number of Mashonaland players travelled to Blantye for a weekend exercise on a matting wicket against, Nyasaland, now Malawi, in the 1961 game, Chris Duckworth stroking 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 Pithey, David Pithey, 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. Despite its strong players, Rhodesia never managed to win the Currie Cup.

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.