Zimbabwe Cricket

The Zimbabwean cricket team is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International status. Despite not playing Test cricket for six years between 2006 and 2011, Zimbabwe have appeared in every World Cup since 1983, finishing fifth in the 1999 tournament. While political unrest in the country has often caused the cricket team a number of issues, Zimbabwe have produced a number of world-class players over the years, from the likes of batsmen such as Andy Flower to all rounders like Heath Streak and bowlers like Ray Price. 

With a number of quality players in the Zimbabwe side, the second half of the 1990s were modestly successful for the African country following a tough introduction to the Test format at the beginning of the decade. After playing their first Test match against India in 1992, it took Zimbabwe a number of years before they were able to compete with the other Test playing nations. 

Zimbabwe's high point came at the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, where the team finished the tournament in fifth in the Super Sixes, only missing out on a semi-final place due to having an inferior net run-rate than New Zealand. The 2003 World Cup was co-hosted by Zimbabwe and South Africa, but it was off-field matters that ultimately will be the tournament's lasting memory.  

With political tension reaching boiling point in Zimbabwe, batsman Andy Flower and fast bowler Henry Olonga used the World Cup as a chance to make a political statement, donning black armbands to show they were "mourning the death of democracy" in the country. This public political protest caused considerable embarrassment to the co-hosts and disrupted team harmony, resulting in a host of players ending their international career following the team's early exit from the tournament. 

At the beginning of 2006, Zimbabwe Cricket announced that they were suspending the playing of Test cricket for the rest of the year, with the backing of the ICC, due to the team's lack of funding and continued failure to compete on a level playing field with the other Test playing sides. It wasn't until late-2011 that Zimbabwe were given back their Test match status, returning to the five-day format with a 130-run victory against Bangladesh. 

Current captain Brendan Taylor has been Zimbabwe's best player in recent years, putting himself in the record books as the first Zimbabwean batsman to hit back-to-back One-Day International centuries, achieved against New Zealand in October 2011. 

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