Hamilton Masakadza (born 9 August 1983) 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 all formats of the game for Zimbabwe. He captained the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

during 2016 ICC World T20, but was relieved of his duties due to an indifferent performance by the team during the tournament, where they failed to get past the qualifying round . In February 2019,

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 ...

confirmed that Masakadza would captain the national side across all three formats for the 2019–20 season. He was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

and occasional right-arm medium-pace bowler. His brothers,

Shingirai Masakadza Shingirai Winston Masakadza (born 4 September 1986) is a cricketer and former professional footballer from Zimbabwe. The brother of former Zimbabwe cricket captain Hamilton Masakadza, he is a pace bowler and middle-order batsmen. After making hi ...

and

Wellington Masakadza Wellington Pedzisai Masakadza (born 4 October 1993) is a Zimbabwean cricketer who has played first-class and limited overs matches for the Mountaineers and the Mashonaland Eagles. He made his One Day International debut for Zimbabwe against Ir ...

, also played for Zimbabwe; all three have played domestically for the

Mountaineers Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

. He became the first player to score multiple 150-plus scores in a series or tournament, where he achieved the feat against Kenya in 2009. In October 2018, during Zimbabwe's tour to South Africa, Masakadza became the fourth cricketer for Zimbabwe to play in 200

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 ...

(ODI) matches. In September 2019, Masakadza announced that he would retire from international cricket, following the conclusion of the 2019–20 Bangladesh Tri-Nation Series. On 20 September 2019, he played in his final international cricket match for Zimbabwe, against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. In October 2019, he was appointed as

's director of cricket.

Early and domestic career

In February 2000, aged just 16 and still a schoolboy at Churchill School, Masakadza became the first black Zimbabwean, and youngest player to score a first-class century. He made 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), ...

debut soon after, in July 2001, 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 ...

in Harare. In his team's second innings, he made 119, thus becoming – at the age of 17 years and 354 days – the youngest player to make a century on his Test debut. However, he only held this record for less than two months, before it was broken by

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 ...

Mohammad Ashraful Mohammad Ashraful ( bn, মোহাম্মদ আশরাফুল; born 7 July 1984) is a Bangladeshi cricketer, who has represented the Bangladesh national cricket team, captaining the team in all formats of the game. A top-order batsman ...

. After briefly putting his professional cricket career on hold to study at the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in ...

, Masakadza was recalled to the national team in late 2004 following the rebel crisis, and has maintained a regular presence since. He was the leading run-scorer for

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 ...

, with 317 runs in six matches.

International career

During the team's six-year exile from Test cricket (2005–2011), he increased his ability in

s. His first century in this format came on 14 August 2009, against Bangladesh in Bulawayo, and in October 2009 he made scores of 156 and 178

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 ...

in a home ODI series against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

– thus becoming the first Zimbabwean to make two scores of 150 or more in ODIs, and the first player from any country to make two such scores in the same series. He has the record for scoring the most runs in a 5 match ODI series(467) When Zimbabwe made its return to Test cricket in August 2011, playing a one-off match against Bangladesh in Harare, Masakadza made 104 in the first innings – thus making his second Test century ten years after his first. In 2015, he made his first appearance in the senior

Cricket World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...

, having previously made two appearances in the Under-19 version (in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

). In 2014 he along with

Sikandar Raza Sikandar Raza Butt (} ; born 24 April 1986) is a Pakistani-born Zimbabwean international cricketer, who plays all formats primarily as a batter. Born in Sialkot, Raza emigrated to Zimbabwe in 2002 along with his family. He soon became one of ...

set the record for the highest ever partnership for Zimbabwe in ODIs. (224 for the first wicket) As of November 2015, Masakadza is Zimbabwe's sixth-highest Test run-scorer and fifth-highest ODI run-scorer. He is also the country's leading

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

run-scorer, becoming the first Zimbabwean to reach 1,000 runs in this format on 29 September 2015. In Zimbabwe's tour of Bangladesh in January 2016, Masakadza set a world record for the most runs scored in a T20I bilateral series, with a total of 222 across four games. Following India's tour to Zimbabwe in June 2016, Masakadza became the first Zimbabwean cricketer to play in 50 Twenty20 International matches.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masakadza, Hamilton 1983 births Living people Cricketers from Harare Alumni of Churchill School (Harare) Manicaland cricketers Mashonaland cricketers Matabeleland cricketers Zimbabwe One Day International cricketers Zimbabwe Test cricketers Cricketers who made a century on Test debut Zimbabwe Twenty20 International cricketers Zimbabwe Test cricket captains Zimbabwean ODI captains Zimbabwean cricketers Sylhet Sixers cricketers Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Kala Bagan Krira Chakra cricketers Abahani Limited cricketers Zimbabwe Select XI cricketers