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About the Zimbabwe Cricket Union

A Brief History

It is believed that the first cricket match staged in what was then known as Rhodesia took place on August 16th, 1890 near Fort Victoria. By the mid 1890s the principal match of the season was Salisbury v Bulawayo. In 1898/99 Lord Hawke's Team came to play two matches in Bulawayo, this being the first visit by an English cricket team to Rhodesia. In the first years of the 20th century, J.D.Logan presented a cup for competition amongst the towns in Rhodesia and in 1904/05 Rhodesia sent a team to Johannesburg to oppose Transvaal in the Currie Cup Competition. Transvaal won by an innings and 170 runs.

The first M.C.C. touring side travelled to South Africa in 1905/06, but did not play in Rhodesia; similarly the second M.C.C. team of 1909/10 failed to make a visit, but at the end of that tour Leveson-Gower persuaded three of his M.C.C. touring colleagues, together with seven South African players, to journey to Rhodesia and play games at Bulawayo, Gwelo and Salisbury. After being defeated at Bulawayo in the first game, the Rhodesians gave a much better account of themselves in the match at Salisbury.

Between the two World Wars the standard of cricket in Rhodesia continued to rise and the country took part in a number of Currie Cup Tournaments, as well as having regular visits from touring sides. After 1946 regular Currie Cup competition produced several Rhodesian Test players for South Africa.

Zimbabwe was elected an Associate member of the ICC on July 23rd, 1981 and in 1983 achieved a famous victory over Australia in the World Cup.On October 18th, 1992 India came to Harare to play Zimbabwe in the first Test involving the home country. The organising of the Logan Cup as a domestic first-class competition is a logical further step in the progress of Zimbabwean cricket.

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union is as active as ever in 2001-02. The people in the ZCU aim to see Zimbabwean cricket thrive and grow throughout the community.

Article by John Ward, from Zimbabwe First-Class Matches 1993-94 a publication of the Association of Cricket Statisticians