Alistair Douglas Ross Campbell (born 23 September 1972) is a retired Zimbabwean

cricket 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 ...

er and a former captain of the

Zimbabwe national cricket team The Zimbabwe national cricket team, also known as the Chevrons, represents Zimbabwe in men's international cricket and is overseen by Zimbabwe Cricket (formerly known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union). Zimbabwe has been a Full Member of the Intern ...

. He is also a cricket commentator. In total he played 60 matches in his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

career, captaining Zimbabwe on 21 occasions. He also played 188

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s, being captain in 86 of them. He retired from cricket in 2003.

Domestic career

Born in Salisbury (now

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 ...

), Campbell started his cricketing career as early as in school times in

Eaglesvale High School , streetaddress = 147 Gleneagles Road, Willowvale , city = Harare , country = Zimbabwe , coordinates = , type = Independent, boarding and day school , religion = Christianity , established = , oversight = RCZ Daisyfield Trust , headmas ...

, and was selected for the national side while he was still at the school. He scored his maiden first-class century by becoming the youngest Zimbabwean to do so.

International career

Early career

A left-handed batsman, Campbell batted in the middle order in Test cricket but usually opened in

cricket. After becoming the youngest ever Zimbabwean to make a first-class century he was selected for the 1992 World Cup in Australia, aged 19. He struggled throughout but in the coming years managed to cement his spot in the national side. On the 1993–94 Pakistan tour he scored 3 half centuries against the likes of

Wasim Akram Wasim Akram HI (; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, and several criti ...

and

Waqar Younis Waqar Younis Maitla HI ( Punjabi, ur, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained Pakistan national cricket team. A right-arm fast bowler, Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the grea ...

. In October 1994 he fell painfully short of his maiden Test century when he was dismissed by Sri Lankan paceman Ravindra Pushpakumara for 99. This remained his highest Test score for five years until he brought up 3 figures against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

at Nagpur in 2000–01. He scored one more Test century in his career, an innings of 103 the following season against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. He was more successful in the ODI arena, making over 5000 runs and maintaining an average of over 30. His most prolific year was in 2000 when he made 960 runs at 38.40. Of his 7 hundreds, 2 were made against Australia.

Captaincy

Campbell took over the captaincy of Zimbabwe in 1996. He led them to a series victory in Pakistan in 1998–99, and also led the team to the Super Six stage of the 1999 World Cup. After 3 years in charge he stood down from the captaincy for what he stated as 'personal reasons'. In the 1998 inaugural ICC Knockout Trophy (now renamed as

ICC Champions Trophy The ICC Champions Trophy is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council. The 2013 tournament was intended to be the final edition of the Champions Trophy, but it was extended to 2017 due to i ...

), Campbell became the first batsman to score a century.

Post captaincy

After not being selected for the 2003 World Cup, Campbell announced his retirement from international cricket only to reconsider when he was chosen to replace an injured

Mark Vermeulen Mark Andrew Vermeulen (born 2 March 1979) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer, who played Test matches and One Day Internationals. He is a right-handed opening batsman and occasional off spin bowler. Domestic career He was former captain of Z ...

. Zimbabwe's final match of the World Cup turned out to be the final match of Campbell's career as he was never selected again for his country. In July 2009, Campbell was re-inducted into Zimbabwe cricket after being selected chairman of their Cricket Committee, a major step in the revival of the sport in the nation. He is also the chief selector of the Zimbabwean national cricket team.

After cricket

Campbell worked as a selector in the cricket administration of Zimbabwe, where he resigned from the position in October 2011. He also resigned as chair of the cricket committee in 2012. In 2015, he was appointed as the managing director of

Zimbabwe Cricket Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), previously known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) until 2004, is the governing body for the sport of cricket in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Cricket is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and administers th ...

, by replacing

Wilfred Mukondiwa Wilfred may refer to: * Wilfred (given name), a given name and list of people (and fictional characters) with the name * Wilfred, Indiana, an unincorporated community in the United States * ''Wilfred'' (Australian TV series), a comedy series * ' ...

. However, in July of the same year, Zimbabwean allrounder

Prosper Utseya Prosper Utseya (born 26 March 1985 in Harare, Zimbabwe) is a Zimbabwean cricketer, who plays all formats of the game. He was the former captain of Zimbabwe from 2006 to 2010. He bowls right-arm off break and is a useful right-hand batsman. Uts ...

criticized Campbell's actions as the chairman, alleging that he was a victim of racism because of these actions. Due to these incidents, Campbell resigned from the chairman role as Zimbabwe Cricket's director of international cricket and commercial affairs on 22 October 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Alistair 1972 births Cricketers from Harare White Zimbabwean sportspeople Living people Alumni of Eaglesvale High School Manicaland cricketers Mashonaland cricketers Zimbabwean ODI captains Zimbabwe One Day International cricketers Zimbabwe Test cricket captains Zimbabwe Test cricketers Zimbabwean cricketers Commonwealth Games competitors for Zimbabwe Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Wicket-keepers Zimbabwean cricket commentators