Douglas Tafadzwa Hondo (born 7 July 1979) is a former 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, who played nine
Test matches and 56
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 as a right-arm medium-fast
swing bowler, and is distinctive for his
dreadlocks
Dreadlocks, also known as locs or dreads, are rope-like strands of hair formed by locking or braiding hair.
Origins
Some of the earliest depictions of dreadlocks date back as far as 1600–1500 BCE in the Minoan Civilization, one of Europe' ...
.
Early career
Hondo was first introduced to cricket at primary school, his elder brother being the first in the family to take up the game. Hondo and his brother were under the guidance of Peter Sharples, a pioneer of taking cricket into the
townships
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
, or "high-density suburbs" as they are known in Zimbabwe. He coached the Queensdale Primary School team which consisted mainly of players who had no family background in the game due to the Rhodesian racist policies.
Hondo was captain of the team in grades 6 and 7, opening the batting and the bowling. Like
Tatenda Taibu
Tatenda Taibu (born 14 May 1983) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer who captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team. He is a wicket-keeper-batsman. From 6 May 2004 to 5 September 2019, he held the record for being the youngest test captain in his ...
and his mates, he attended
Churchill School. He excelled, first as U15 captain and then in the full team, including taking 7–10 versus
Gateway High School and scoring 121 versus Hillcrest.
Domestic career
Hondo made the
Mashonaland
Mashonaland is a region in northern Zimbabwe.
Currently, Mashonaland is divided into four provinces,
* Mashonaland West
* Mashonaland Central
* Mashonaland East
* Harare
The Zimbabwean capital of Harare, a province unto itself, lies entirely ...
U-13 team and then the national U-15 team. A back injury put Hondo out of U19 contention for a year but he made the CFX academy in 2000.
When he had finished at the academy he was placed with the
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
team in
Kwekwe
Kwekwe ( ), known until 1983 as Que Que, is a city in the Midlands province of central Zimbabwe. The city has a population of 119,863 within the city limits, as of the 2022 census, making it the 7th-largest city in Zimbabwe and the second-most p ...
. Hondo was plagued by bad form, taking only 11 wickets at more than 50.
Not wanted for the tours after dropped from Zimbabwean squad, Hondo was sent to play club cricket in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
with
Stuart Matsikenyeri.
International career
Despite this he was, surprisingly, called up for the first Test versus South Africa. Hondo assumed he was to be a net bowler but he was bowling well in the nets and then the first choice,
Brighton Watambwa, was injured and Hondo made his debut. He did not bowl well, in a poor team performance, and South Africa scored 600–3 declared, Hondo taking the wicket of
Gary Kirsten for 212. Hondo acquitted himself well with the bat, playing supportive innings to
Andy Flower
Andrew Flower (born 28 April 1968) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and a former cricketer. As a cricketer, he captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team. He was Zimbabwe's wicket-keeper for more than 10 years and is, statistically, the greatest ...
's pair of centuries, but was dismissed in the second innings with Flower stranded on 199*.
Dropped for the second Test, Hondo did play two ODIs against England but he was very inaccurate. Here in Australian season, he worked on his accuracy and was rewarded by being called up to the squad in
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 ...
for the five-match
ODI series. He did not play in the first two games but in the third he took three wickets,(
Dinesh Mongia
Dinesh Mongia (born 17 April 1977) is a former Indian cricketer and politician. Mongia has appeared in limited over internationals for India.
Domestic career
Mongia in domestic cricket career scored 8,100 runs at an average of just under 50 a ...
,
Saurav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
and
VVS Laxman
Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman (; born 1 November 1974) is a former Indian international cricketer and a former cricket commentator and pundit. A right-hand batsman known for his elegant stroke play, Laxman played as a middle-order batsman in T ...
) and, along with
Pommie Mbangwa
Mpumelelo "Pommie" Mbangwa (born 26 June 1976) is a Zimbabwean cricket commentator and former cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler, he played 15 Test matches and 29 One Day Internationals for Zimbabwe between 1996 and 2002. After being dropped f ...
, reduced India to 4 wickets for 51 runs. Hondo took the last wicket and Zimbabwe went on to win, with Hondo named as man of the match.
In the
2002 ICC Champions Trophy
The 2002 ICC Champions Trophy was a cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka in 2002. It was the third edition of the ICC Champions Trophy – the first two having been known as the ICC Knock Out Tournaments. The tournament was due to be h ...
, he had another excellent performance against India at
R. Premadasa Stadium, where he rattled the Indian top order by taking the wickets of Saurav Ganguly, Dinesh Mongia,
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-scor ...
and Yuvraj Singh and reduced them to 5/87. However, India recovered well thanks to the century from Kaif (111 not out) and 71 from Dravid and won the
match by 14 runs. Four days later, in his next match he had the bowling figure of 4/45 against England in the same tournament.
Hondo toured England in 2003 but did not do well.
A series of back and hamstring injuries mean he has not played international cricket since January 2005.
Coaching career
Following a difference of opinion with
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 ...
, (who insisted that four players sporting dreadlocks either had their hair cut or were dropped) Hondo made his way to England.
He became Head Coach for
Shepherd Neame
Shepherd Neame is an English independent brewery which has been based in the market town of Faversham, Kent, for over 300 years. While 1698 is the brewery's official established date, town records show that commercial brewing has occurred on the ...
league side Upminster CC and played in the
Devon Cricket League
The Tolchards Devon Cricket League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in Devon, England, and the League Headquarters is in Little Torrington, Devon. The league was founded in 1972, and since 2000 it has been a designat ...
, for Premier Side Sandford – in his first game he took 2 wickets for 10runs off 6 overs.
In 2011 Hondo become Player/Coach for Two Counties Cricket Division 1 side
Ipswich Cricket Club. After a successful campaign in 2011 Hondo will return in 2012 to resume his duties as both Player and Coach.
In 2012 Hondo played for the
Hawera United Cricket Club, in New Zealand over 2 seasons.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hondo, Douglas
1979 births
Living people
Cricketers from Bulawayo
Alumni of Churchill School (Harare)
Zimbabwean cricketers
Zimbabwe One Day International cricketers
Zimbabwe Test cricketers
CFX Academy cricketers
Midlands cricketers
Mashonaland cricketers
Zimbabwean cricket coaches
Coaches of the Zimbabwe national cricket team
Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup