Reports | Hamilton Masakadza announces retirement from all forms of cricket
Zimbabwe’s Hamilton Masakadza announced his decision to retire from all forms of cricket on Tuesday. The veteran right-handed batsman will play his final international series for Zimbabwe in the T20I tri-series in Bangladesh, also involving Afghanistan, slated for later this month.
Masakadza started off his international career in 2001 in remarkable fashion, scoring a hundred on Test debut against the West Indies. He shot two birds with that one century, joining an elite list of cricketers who were awarded a Man of the Match award on their debut, and becoming the then youngest player to score a Test ton – a record later broken by Bangladesh’s Mohammad Ashraful. The burly right-hander went on to play another 37 Tests for his country.
However, it was in the white-ball format of the game, ODIs especially, that saw the prowess of the man most of the time. He has amassed 5658 runs from 209 games, which puts him fourth in the list of most run-getters for Zimbabwe in the 50-over format. He retires as again the fourth-most capped player for Zimbabwe in ODIs behind the Flower brothers and Elton Chigumbura. The 36-year-old also featured in 62 T20Is and scored 1529 runs at a strike rate of more than 115, with 10 half-centuries to his name.
Masakadza was handed over the captaincy of the side in February this year, but after the ban put on Zimbabwe Cricket by the ICC in July, he had written to the sports minister to intervene – even hinting at dressing room rifts in his letter. Masakadza is now the second player to announce his retirement after the ICC ban – Solomon Mire being the first, in July.