Elton Chigumbura (born 14 March 1986) is a Zimbabwean former

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 for

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 ...

between 2004 and 2020. He was educated at

Churchill School (Harare) Churchill School is a public, day and boarding school for boys aged 12 to 19 located in the Eastlea suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe. The school had the first school pipe band in Zimbabwe and produces cricket players of national and international cali ...

and made his debut at the age of 18, amidst the rebel crisis and has played 14

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

. Chigumbura is the most capped player in the current ODI squad with more than 200 caps. In May 2015 Chigumbura made his maiden ODI century, against Pakistan in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, in his 174th ODI match. With more than 4000 runs and 100 wickets in ODIs, he is widely regarded as one of Zimbabwe's greatest all-rounders. In June 2016, during India's tour to Zimbabwe, he played in his 200th ODI match, with 197 of these for Zimbabwe and three for Africa XI. In November 2020, Chigumbura retired from international cricket following the conclusion of the T20I series against Pakistan.

Domestic career

Chigumbura made his first-class debut for

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 ...

aged just fifteen and went on to represent

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 Mozam ...

in two consecutive Under-19 World Cups. He took four wickets in their upset win over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the Under-19 World Cup in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. In March 2010, Chigumbura signed for

Northamptonshire County Cricket Club Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northa ...

as an overseas player, giving him the chance to return to England after having a short spell at Eppleton Cricket Club. He was the leading run-scorer for

Mashonaland Eagles The Mashonaland Eagles is one of five cricket Zimbabwean cricket franchises. They are based in the Harare Metropolitan and Mashonaland Central area and play both first-class and limited overs cricket. They play their home matches at Harare Spo ...

in the

2017–18 Pro50 Championship The 2017–18 Pro50 Championship was the sixteenth edition of the Pro50 Championship, a List A cricket tournament that was played in Zimbabwe. The tournament included a new team, the Rising Stars, along with the existing four teams. Matabelel ...

tournament, with 243 runs in seven matches.

International career

Before captaincy

He made his international debut sooner than expected due to the absence of the 'rebel' players, playing his first Test aged just 18 during a tour of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It was a demoralising tour for Zimbabwe and Chigumbura looked out of his depth. He missed the majority of 2005 due to a stress fracture in his back which he picked up during a series against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in March. Prior to Zimbabwe being barred from Test cricket in 2005, he went on to play 6 Tests for his country. He struggled with the bat, making five ducks in his twelve innings. He made one half century, an innings of 71 against Bangladesh in Chittagong. It turned out to be a good game for Chigumbura as he followed up his batting performance with a career best bowling return of 5/54 He has had more success in ODI cricket, playing some memorable innings. In May 2004 he scored 77 against Australia at Harare but arguably his greatest performance came later in the year against Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy. In a man of the match winning effort he made 57 with the bat and took 3/37 with the ball. The next year in a game against Bangladesh in Harare he put on 165 runs for 6th wicket with

Stuart Matsikenyeri Stuart Matsikenyeri (born 3 May 1983) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer, who played all formats of the game. He was a right-handed batsman and usually opened the batting for Zimbabwe. Matsikenyeri also bowled part-time right-arm off-break and wa ...

as they successfully chased down 246 to win with 5 balls in hand. Chigumbura contributed 70 off 68 deliveries. At the same ground against the same opponent in February 2007 he equalled his highest ODI score of 77 in an innings that included 7 sixes. At the conclusion of the game only 3 other Zimbabwean cricketers had hit more sixes than Chigumbura in their one-day careers. Chigumbura was part of the Zimbabwean squad for the 2007 World Cup in 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 registered new career-best ODI bowling figures of 3/25 and scored 38 runs from 34 balls in Zimbabwe's shock win against the West Indies on 30 November 2007. Elton Chigumbura batting

Captaincy

In May 2010, Chigumbura replaced

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 ...

as Zimbabwe's captain. He led Zimbabwe to the 2011 World Cup, but resigned within months of the tournament in which Zimbabwe defeated only Canada and Kenya and failed to qualify for the quarter-finals. He was replaced in the captaincy by

Brendan Taylor Brendan Ross Murray Taylor (born 6 February 1986) is a Zimbabwean former international cricketer and a former Zimbabwean captain, who played all formats of the game. Taylor is a right-handed batsman but is also an off spinner. In 2015, former Z ...

. In August 2014, Chigumbura was named Zimbabwean captain for second time. He was appointed ODI and T20 captain as

retained the leadership in the Tests as part 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 ...

's decision to split the captaincy across formats. He scored 90 runs off 122 balls with 10 fours and two sixes in defeat against South Africe at

Queens Sports Club Queens Sports Club Ground is a stadium in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. It is used primarily used for cricket matches. The stadium has a capacity of up to 13,000. The stadium is the home ground for the Matabeleland Tuskers, who are the current Logan Cu ...

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

. Out of 165 runs Chigumbura scored 54.5 percentage of team runs. Chigumbura's unbeaten 52 engineered the chase that led

to their first victory over

in 31 years. In January 2016 Chigumbura stepped down as captain of Zimbabwe following the conclusion of the Twenty20 International series against Bangladesh.

Post captaincy

He was retained in the team for Zimbabwe's victorious return to Test cricket in a one-off match against Bangladesh in August 2011, taking three wickets, before a knee injury ruled him out of the following Test against Pakistan. Chigumbura had earlier led Zimbabwe in 24 limited-overs games from May 2010 to March 2011 in which his form was fell away. In March 2014, Chigumbura scored a quickfire 53 from No. 6 to complete the chase in 13.4 overs against

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

2014 ICC World Twenty20 The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 was the fifth ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament, that took place in Bangladesh from 16 March to 6 April 2014. It was played in three cities — Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. Th ...

. He started with a six and a four in his first two balls, and maintained the same intensity throughout his innings. His last shot was a straight six not only took Zimbabwe over the line it also brought him his half-century off 21 balls.

Playing style

He is an aggressive batsman, who generally bats in the middle order for his team. He is strong on the lofted drive and he consistently clears the fence in ODI with his big hitting in the final overs. He is also a useful seam bowler, regarded as being his country's fastest in the current squad, clocking at more than 140 km/h when at his peak. In the field he is an athletic outfielder, once taking 4 catches in an ODI against the West Indies at

Queen's Park Oval The Queen's Park Oval is a sports stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, used mostly for cricket matches. It opened in 1896. Privately owned by the Queen's Park Cricket Club, it is currently the second largest capacity cricket ground in ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chigumbura, Elton 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Kwekwe Alumni of Churchill School (Harare) Manicaland cricketers Mashonaland cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Zimbabwe One Day International cricketers Zimbabwe Test cricketers Zimbabwe Twenty20 International cricketers Zimbabwean cricketers ACA African XI One Day International cricketers Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Sylhet Strikers cricketers Zimbabwean cricket captains Quetta Gladiators cricketers Chattogram Challengers cricketers