The Mashonaland Eagles is one of five cricket
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 ...
an cricket franchises. They are based in the Harare Metropolitan and Mashonaland Central area and play both
first-class and
limited overs
Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...
cricket. They play their home matches at
Harare Sports Club
Harare Sports Club is a sports club and the Harare Sports Club Ground is a cricket stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe. Founded in 1900 and known as Salisbury Sports Club until 1982, it is mostly used for cricket matches, and has served as the primary c ...
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 ...
.
Franchise history
In the 2009–10 season,
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 ...
following the decline of the standard of cricket, decided to use a new set of teams in all the first-class, List A and T20 domestic formats of the game. A total of 5 teams were named, and the Mashonaland Eagles franchise was based 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 ...
.
2009–10 Logan Cup
Coming into this tournament, Mash Eagles were the favourites. They performed according to expectations by winning the tournament, by drawing the Mid West Rhinos in the final (they finished winners in virtue of finishing top of the group pool, and also coming first in the group.
On 14 September, the Eagles made their first-class debut against the Mountaineers. It was also the tournament opener. The match was drawn.
They then drew with Mid West Rhinos, and then got their first-ever first-class victory when they crushed Southern Rocks by 234 runs. They then continued their campaign with a six-wicket victory over Matabeleland Tuskers and another six-wicket win over Mountaineers. Another six wicket victory followed over Mid West Rhinos, and then a draw was achieved against the Southern Rocks at Masvingo. This was followed by a crushing nine-wicket win over the Tuskers, which was followed by a draw with Mountaineers. Following another draw with Mid West Rhinos, the Eagles then crushed Southern Rocks by an innings and 19 runs. Following this, they suffered the first ever first-class loss, a seven-wicket defeat to the Tuskers. The final against Mid West Rhinos was drawn, but Eagles finished champions on virtue of finishing first in the group pool.
2009–10 Faithwear Metbank One-Day Competition
Mash Eagles began their Faithwear Metbank campaign with a 4-wicket loss to Mountaineers, but duly bounced back to finish third in the pool and qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-final, they were defeated by the Mid West Rhinos by 2 wickets, thus getting eliminated.
2009–10 Stanbic Bank 20 Series
Mash Eagles had an excellent start to their debut
Twenty20
Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...
campaign as they beat Matabeleland Tuskers by 5 wickets at
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 ...
. They continued their good form throughout the group matches, eventually finishing first in the pool with 17 points.
On virtue of finishing top, Eagles faced Mountaineers who had finished second in the group phase. They were the hot favourites to win the game and the series, considering the fact that the Eagles had downed the Mountaineers by 82 runs at
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 ...
in their last encounter, with the Eagle's premier spinner,
Ray Price taking remarkable figures of 5/12 in 2.5 overs in a total Mountaineers batting total of 59. However the final culminated in a nine-wicket upset loss for the hosts as renowned internationals and former schoolmates
Hamilton Masakadza
Hamilton Masakadza (born 9 August 1983) is a Zimbabwean former cricketer, who played all formats of the game for Zimbabwe. He captained the national team during 2016 ICC World T20, but was relieved of his duties due to an indifferent performanc ...
(64*) and
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 ...
(37*) led Mountaineers to the inaugural Stanbic Bank Twenty20 trophy.
2010–11 Logan Cup
Mashonaland Eagles (the defending champions) had a poor Logan Cup. They finished in fourth place, just 2 points better than last-placed Southern Rocks. Whats more, they did not record a single win (they lost six matches and drew six).
2010–11 Metbank Pro40 Championship
Mashonaland Eagles had a disastrous Pro40 campaign finishing absolutely bottom of the pool with just 2 wins from 8 matches. This saw them not get a place in the semi-finals, and were thus eliminated out of the competition.
2010–11 Stanbic Bank 20 Series
After disastrous Logan Cup and Pro40 campaigns, Mash Eagles signed off the season in style by winning the second Stanbic Bank 20 Series. They became champions by defeating Mid West Rhinos in a thrilling one-run win. They were captained admirably in the tournament by former Zimbabwean great
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 ...
, and contained international stars such as
Andrew Hall
Andrew James Hall (born 31 July 1975) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played from 1999 until 2011. He played as an all-rounder who bowled fast-medium pace and has been used as both an opening batsman and in the lower order. ...
,
Ryan ten Doeschate
Ryan Neil ten Doeschate (; born 30 June 1980) is a former Dutch–South African cricketer who played for the Netherlands national cricket team in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket. Ten Doeschate was named ICC ...
, and
Nick Compton
Nicholas Richard Denis Compton (born 26 June 1983) is a South African-born English former Test and first-class cricketer who most recently played for Middlesex County Cricket Club. The grandson of Denis Compton, he represented England in 16 ...
. They had earlier qualified for the final in a nervy, tense, unsure, one-wicket win over Matabeleland Tuskers.
2011–12 Logan Cup
Mash Eagles opened the new season with a 3-wicket win over Southern Rocks at Masvingo. They continued that momentum with a heavy 132-run win over Mountaineers. As of proceedings till now, Mashonaland Eagles is at the second position of the group, with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in 4 matches.
Coca-Cola Pro50 Championship
The Mashonaland Eagles won the title in the 2011–2012 season, after winning 6 of their 8 games during the season.
2011–12 Stanbic Bank 20 Series
Mash Eagles warmed up for the series with a three-match T20I series against the
Kenya national cricket team
The Kenya national cricket team represents the Republic of Kenya in international cricket. Kenya is an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) which has Twenty20 International (T20I) status after the ICC granted T20I status ...
. The Mash Eagles won the first match by 3 wickets mostly due to
Nathan Waller's miserly spell of 1/14 in 3 overs and an unbeaten 34 off 29 by
Forster Mutizwa
Forster Mutizwa (born 24 August 1985) is a Zimbabwean former cricketer. He played as a lower middle-order batsman and wicket-keeper.
Playing career
He was first called up to the national team for a tour of Bangladesh, and subsequently made his ...
. This was followed by another 2-wicket win over the visitors. This also secured the series. However, Kenya managed an upset 3-wicket win the last T20I, thanks to a brilliant unbeaten 42 off 21 balls by
Rakep Patel
Rakep Patel (born 12 July 1989) was a Kenyan international cricketer. A product of the Nairobi Gymkhana Club, he was a Wicket-Keeper–Batsman who played right-handed, but also occasionally bowled off spin.
Career
He made his lone performance fo ...
, who batted down the order.
For this series, the Eagles signed up international stars such as
Ryan ten Doeschate
Ryan Neil ten Doeschate (; born 30 June 1980) is a former Dutch–South African cricketer who played for the Netherlands national cricket team in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket. Ten Doeschate was named ICC ...
,
Rory Hamilton-Brown
Rory James Hamilton-Brown (born 3 September 1987) is a former English first-class cricketer who last played for Sussex. Previously, he was captain of Surrey until August 2012. Playing primarily as a right-handed batsman, he was also an occasio ...
, and
Peter Trego
Peter David Trego (born 12 June 1981) is a former English cricketer who played primarily for Somerset. He is a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler. He is a big hitting all-rounder who is capable of taking a one-day match away f ...
. They however, had the worst possible start to the tournament as Matabeleland Tuskers, who were strengthened by the signings of international class players, such as
Chris Gayle
Christopher Henry Gayle, OD (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricketer who has been playing international cricket for the West Indies since 1999. A destructive batter, Gayle is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen to have play ...
and
Paul Horton
Paul James Horton (born 20 September 1982 in Sydney, Australia) is a retired former cricketer who played for Lancashire and Leicestershire in England and Matabeleland Tuskers in Zimbabwe.
Early life
Born 20 September 1982 in Sydney, Austra ...
, steam-rolled them by 7 wickets. They lost all their initial three matches, and looked all but eliminated, but had a timely 70-run victory against
Southern Rocks that put them back into contention. They then defeated Mid West Rhinos by 53 runs to earn a spot in the playoff final against Matabeleland Tuskers.
In the playoff final, they defeated the favourites Tuskers in a shock win by 23 runs in the Duckworth–Lewis method.
Ryan ten Doeschate
Ryan Neil ten Doeschate (; born 30 June 1980) is a former Dutch–South African cricketer who played for the Netherlands national cricket team in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket. Ten Doeschate was named ICC ...
's exploding 121* off 58 took the Eagles to a massive 207/7, they defeated the Tuskers despite exploding half-centuries by both
Chris Gayle
Christopher Henry Gayle, OD (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricketer who has been playing international cricket for the West Indies since 1999. A destructive batter, Gayle is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen to have play ...
and Steven Trenchard. In the final they were defeated by the champions Mountaineers and the Eagles had folded for 115 thus losing by 27 runs despite chasing a target of 143.
[Bowlers help Mountaineers win title]
ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 December 2011
Players
When the franchise made their debut in the
2009–10 Logan Cup, they then had Zimbabwean international and domestic cricketers. Key players at that time included skipper and all-rounder
Elton Chigumbura
Elton Chigumbura (born 14 March 1986) is a Zimbabwean former cricketer, who played for Zimbabwe national cricket team between 2004 and 2020.
He was educated at Churchill School (Harare) and made his debut at the age of 18, amidst the rebel cr ...
, batsmen
Ryan Butterworth
Ryan Eric Butterworth (born 14 April 1981) is a Zimbabwean former cricketer who played for the Mashonaland Eagles. He is a right-handed batsman, and right-arm medium-pace bowler, and is described as a batting all-rounder.
Butterworth attended ...
,
Barney Rogers, the aggressive
Cephas Zhuwao
Cephas Zhuwao (born 15 December 1984) is a Zimbabwean international cricketer. He bats left-handed and bowls slow left arm orthodox spin.
Zhuwao made his first-class debut for Northerns in May 2007, having made his limited-overs debut in Ja ...
, all-rounders like the skipper himself, and
Greg Lamb, wicket-keepers like
Regis Chakabva
Regis Wiriranai Chakabva (born 20 September 1987) is a Zimbabwean cricketer and vice-captain of the team in all formats of the game. He is a right-handed wicket-keeper batter. He played through school-level cricket and started making his mark as ...
,
Forster Mutizwa
Forster Mutizwa (born 24 August 1985) is a Zimbabwean former cricketer. He played as a lower middle-order batsman and wicket-keeper.
Playing career
He was first called up to the national team for a tour of Bangladesh, and subsequently made his ...
, and bowlers like
Douglas Hondo
Douglas Tafadzwa Hondo (born 7 July 1979) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer, who played nine Test matches and 56 One Day Internationals as a right-arm medium-fast swing bowler, and is distinctive for his dreadlocks.
Early career
Hondo was fi ...
,
Darlington Matambanadzo, and
Ray Price. Their first major overseas signing was England's
Chris Silverwood
Christopher Eric Wilfred Silverwood (born 5 March 1975) is a former international cricketer and a former head coach of the England cricket team. He is currently the Head Coach of the Sri Lanka Cricket Team.
Early life and domestic playing care ...
, who played in the
2009–10 Stanbic Bank 20 Series.
![Ryan ten doeschate](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Ryan_ten_Doeschate.jpg)
For the 2010–11 season, the Mash Eagles had many development in their squads.
Andrew Hall
Andrew James Hall (born 31 July 1975) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played from 1999 until 2011. He played as an all-rounder who bowled fast-medium pace and has been used as both an opening batsman and in the lower order. ...
, who had played one-day internationals for South Africa, and was a former Northamptonshire captain, was named the player coach, while former Zimbabwean great
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 ...
was the coach. They also signed up Nottinghamshire fast bowler
Charlie Shreck
Charles Edward Shreck (born 6 January 1978) is a former English professional cricketer who has also played first-class cricket in New Zealand. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler.
In the 2008 English cricket season, ...
and South African-born Somerset batsman
Nick Compton
Nicholas Richard Denis Compton (born 26 June 1983) is a South African-born English former Test and first-class cricketer who most recently played for Middlesex County Cricket Club. The grandson of Denis Compton, he represented England in 16 ...
.
[Zimbabwe franchises announce new signings]
ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 December 2011 However, the results were disappointing with poor Logan Cup and Pro40 tournaments. They however signed off the season in style with a thrilling one-run win over
Mid West Rhinos
The Mid West Rhinos is one of the four cricket Zimbabwean cricket franchises. They are a first-class cricket team, based in Midlands Province and the Mashonaland West area. They play their home matches at Kwekwe Sports Club in Kwekwe.
History
...
in the final of the
Stanbic Bank 20 Series
The Domestic Twenty20 formerly known as and Stanbic Bank Twenty20 the Metropolitan Bank Twenty20 is the domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in Zimbabwe. It was formed in 2007 and maintained by Zimbabwe Cricket. It features all the national a ...
, thus securing the trophy.
When the initial contracts of the 2011–12 season were announced, captain of the previous two seasons
Elton Chigumbura
Elton Chigumbura (born 14 March 1986) is a Zimbabwean former cricketer, who played for Zimbabwe national cricket team between 2004 and 2020.
He was educated at Churchill School (Harare) and made his debut at the age of 18, amidst the rebel cr ...
was dropped as he had joined the
Southern Rocks. Wicket-keeper batsman
Forster Mutizwa
Forster Mutizwa (born 24 August 1985) is a Zimbabwean former cricketer. He played as a lower middle-order batsman and wicket-keeper.
Playing career
He was first called up to the national team for a tour of Bangladesh, and subsequently made his ...
was named as his replacement.
[Mashonaland Eagles Squad, Zimbabwe Domestic Season, 2011/12]
ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 December 2011 However, later on
Stuart Matsikenyeri took over as captain for the Stanbic Bank 20 Series.
[Squads Announced For The Stanbic Bank 20 Series Zimbabwe]
Zimbabwe Cricket Official Website. Retrieved 10 December 2011 Also newcomers included bright prospects such as opening batsman
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 ...
and fast bowler
Nathan Waller. Major omissions initially also included the franchise's stalwart spinner, Ray Price, but later made a comeback to the team.
![Peter trego](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Peter_trego.jpg)
For the Stanbic Bank Twenty20, former captain Chigumbura made his comeback to the team.
For the later part of that tournament, overseas player
Rory Hamilton-Brown
Rory James Hamilton-Brown (born 3 September 1987) is a former English first-class cricketer who last played for Sussex. Previously, he was captain of Surrey until August 2012. Playing primarily as a right-handed batsman, he was also an occasio ...
captained the side. The squad also included players like
Peter Trego
Peter David Trego (born 12 June 1981) is a former English cricketer who played primarily for Somerset. He is a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler. He is a big hitting all-rounder who is capable of taking a one-day match away f ...
, and
Ryan ten Doeschate
Ryan Neil ten Doeschate (; born 30 June 1980) is a former Dutch–South African cricketer who played for the Netherlands national cricket team in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket. Ten Doeschate was named ICC ...
(retained from previous season).
The Eagles had a fine tournament, finishing in second place to Mountaineers.
For the 2011–12 season,
Kevin Curran Kevin Curran may refer to:
* Kevin Curran (cricketer) (1959–2012), Zimbabwean cricketer
* Kevin Curran (cricketer, born 1928) (1928–2017), Zimbabwean cricketer
* Kevin Curran (footballer, born 1919) (1919–1986), Australian rules footballer ...
was named as Mash Eagles coach, replacing Flower.
Current squad
Players with international caps are listed in bold.
Source:
ESPNCricinfo
ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...
Home stadium
The Eagles play their home matches in the
Harare Sports Club
Harare Sports Club is a sports club and the Harare Sports Club Ground is a cricket stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe. Founded in 1900 and known as Salisbury Sports Club until 1982, it is mostly used for cricket matches, and has served as the primary c ...
,
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 ...
. It has a seating capacity of 10,000. Floodlights were set in the stadium in 2011 in preparation to Zimbabwe's return to
Test cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...
against Bangladesh in August. Surrounded by jacaranda trees and with a beautiful gabled pavilion, Harare Sports Club is in the heart of the city. It is bordered by the heavily guarded presidential palace on one side and the prestigious Royal Harare Golf Club on another. HSC hosted Zimbabwe's first Test in October 1992 and has been the country's major Test and one-day venue since.
[Harare Sports Club Ground Page]
ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 December 2011
Administration
* Owners –
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 ...
* chief executive:
Hugo Ribatika
* Player-coach:
Andrew Hall
Andrew James Hall (born 31 July 1975) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played from 1999 until 2011. He played as an all-rounder who bowled fast-medium pace and has been used as both an opening batsman and in the lower order. ...
* Team Manager / Team Performance Analyst:
Joseph Madyembwa
References
{{Stanbic Bank 20 Series
Zimbabwean first-class cricket teams