Njabulo Ncube (born 14 October 1989) is a Zimbabwean cricketer. He domestically represents the

Matabeleland Tuskers The Matabeleland Tuskers is one of five Zimbabwean cricket franchises. They are a first-class cricket team, based in the Bulawayo Metropolitan and Matabeleland North area. They play their home matches at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. They were ...

, formerly the

Westerns cricket team The Westerns cricket team was a first-class cricket team in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. They competed in the Logan Cup from 2006 to 2009. The club played their home matches at the Queens Sports Club Queens Sports Club Ground is a stadium in Bulawayo ...

. He has represented Zimbabwe in one

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 Cup ...

. He considers

Makhaya Ntini Makhaya Ntini OIS (born 6 July 1977) is a South African former professional cricketer, who played all forms of the game. He was the first black player to play for the South African national cricket team. He reached second place in the ICC Te ...

as his role model for his aggression and commitment to the game.

Early years

Ncube first played cricket on the streets of

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 ...

's Gwabalanda township, going on to represent Milton High School before finding a place in the Western Under-19s and B teams, where impressive performances helped him find a place in the Zimbabwe Under-19 Cricket Team. He had represented Zimbabwe at the

2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

in Malaysia, where he took 1 wicket for 12 runs in 7 overs in the match against New Zealand Under-19s. He plays for Amakhosi Cricket Club in the club league in Zimbabwe.

Domestic career

Westerns career

He spent a couple of seasons with the Matabeleland-based Westerns until the revamping of Zimbabwe's cricket structure in 2009. He made his First-class debut, List A debut and Twenty20 debut for them.

Move to Mountaineers

After the Zimbabwe's domestic structure was reconstructed, Ncube moved to Mountaineers in 2009, but the move was not successful, and returned to

in 2010. He currently plays domestic cricket for them.

International career

ODI debut

He was selected for the New Zealand cricket team in Zimbabwe in 2011–12 ODI series. After this, he made his ODI debut in the 3rd ODI where he took 3 wickets in his debut match. He became one of only eight Zimbabwean bowlers to take three or more wickets on debut. Zimbabwe won by 1 wicket in the penultimate ball of the innings as they recorded their highest ever successful run-chase.

Test debut

He made his

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 ...

debut against New Zealand at

on 1 November 2011. He took his maiden Test wicket with the dismissal of

Ross Taylor Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor (born 8 March 1984) is a former international cricketer and former captain of the New Zealand national team. Batting predominantly at number four, when he announced his retirement from international cricket at ...

, caught by the

wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

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 ...

. While it was his first dismissal in this format, it was also Chakabva's first dismissal in

. It was Ncube who bowled economical overs, maintained disciplined line and lengths, and took most of the advantages of the conditions early on. In July 2016 he was named in Zimbabwe's

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), ...

squad for their series against New Zealand.

Bowling speed

Ncube normally bowls at a speed of 128–135 kmph. On his day he can bowl quick and naturally hit the deck bowling inswing cutters but has been working hard on his outswingers. However, now he bowls fine outswingers in tandem to his inswingers as he showed in this debut ODI and Test matches for Zimbabwe.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ncube, Njabulo 1989 births Living people Cricketers from Bulawayo Zimbabwean cricketers Zimbabwe One Day International cricketers Zimbabwe Test cricketers Matabeleland cricketers Matabeleland Tuskers cricketers Mountaineers cricketers