The Alexandra Sports Club (also called the Alex Sports Club) is a sporting complex in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

, the capital of

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

. The venue's primary use is as a

cricket ground Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, and it has hosted both international and domestic fixtures.

History

Cricket is first recorded as being played at the Alexandra Sports Club in January 1949, at a time when Harare was called Salisbury, and was the capital of the British colony of

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kno ...

. It may have been played earlier.Other matches played on Alexandra Sports Club, Harare
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2016. The inaugural first-class match on the ground was in October 1990, when a Young Zimbabwe team played a three-day game against Pakistan B (which held first-class status).First-class matches played on Alexandra Sports Club, Harare
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2016. Beginning with the

1993–94 Logan Cup The 1993–94 Logan Cup was the first competing of the Logan Cup as a first-class cricket competition. It was held in Zimbabwe from 14 January – 20 March 1994. It was won by Mashonaland Under-24s, who drew with Matabeleland in the final, and wo ...

, the Alexandra Sports Club began to host matches in top-level domestic competitions, generally for teams based in the Mashonaland region (which includes Harare). Mashonaland, Mashonaland A, Mashonaland Country Districts, Mashonaland Under-24s, CFX Academy, and

Westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

all played occasional

Logan Cup The Logan Cup is the premier domestic first-class cricket competition in Zimbabwe. It is named after James Douglas Logan. History The first recorded cricket match in what was known at the time as Rhodesia was played in August 1890 near Fort V ...

or domestic one-day games at the venue, with the most recent such fixture coming in May 2009.List A matches played on Alexandra Sports Club, Harare
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2016. The Alexandra Sports Club has hosted a number of fixtures for Zimbabwe A, including a first-class game against South Africa A in 1994, a series of games against England A in 1999, and a one-day game against

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

in 2002. In 1996, the ground was also scheduled to host a game between the Zimbabwe under-19s and the England under-19s, but it was abandoned due to inclement weather. In April 2000, the ground hosted three matches in the ICC Emerging Nations Tournament, two featuring Zimbabwe A (against

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and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) and one between the Netherlands and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. After that, the next international tournament played there was the Africa regional qualifier for the 2017 Women's World Cup, which was played in April 2016.

Records

First-class

* Highest team total: 510/9 dec. by Northerns v. Centrals, 2008/09 * Lowest team total: 49 all out by Zimbabwe Cricket Academy v.

Australian Cricket Academy The Australian Cricket Academy was founded in 1987 as a joint initiative of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). It was initially located at Henley Beach in Adelaide before moving to the Allan Border F ...

, 1998/99 * Highest individual innings: 243

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

Grant Flower Grant William Flower (born 20 December 1970) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the current batting coach of Sri Lanka cricket team and Sussex. He is rated among the best Zimbabwean cricketers in history for his consistent ...

for Mashonaland v.

Matabeleland Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi ...

, 1996/97 * Best bowling in an innings: 8/50 by Darren Thomas for England A v. Zimbabwe A, 1998/99

List A

* Highest team total: 262/8 by England XI v. Zimbabwe A, 2001/02 * Lowest team total: 95 all out by

v. Mashonaland, 2002/03 * Highest individual innings: 118

Piet Rinke Harry Peter Rinke (born 5 November 1981) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer who debuted for the international team against Kenya in 2005–06. International career Rinke made 168 runs during the four-match series, more than any other Zimbabwean bats ...

for Manicaland v.

, 2003/04 * Best bowling in an innings: 5/30 by Mohammad Sharif for

Bangladeshis Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

v. CFX Academy, 2000/01Alexandra Sports Club, Harare – seven wickets in an innings in List A cricket
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2016.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links