Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe – known as Rhodesia until 1980 – had a national cricket team before it achieved Test status. A summary of key moments:

Rhodesia was represented in the South African domestic cricket tournament, the Currie Cup, sporadically from 1904 to 1932, and then regularly from 1946 until independence. Following independence, the country began to play more international cricket. On 21 July 1981, Zimbabwe became an associate member of the ICC. Zimbabwe participated in the 1983 Cricket World Cup, as well as the 1987 and 1992 events. Zimbabwe's first World Cup campaign in 1983 ended at the group stage, as they lost five of their six matches. However, they threw a surprise against Australia. Batting first, Zimbabwe reached a total of 239 for 6 in the allotted 60 overs, with skipper Duncan Fletcher top-scoring with 69 not out. Fletcher then produced career-best bowling figures of 4 for 42 to restrict Australia to 226 for 7, thereby recording a stunning upset in cricket history. Surprisingly, this was their first ever official ODI match.

In the 1987 Cricket World Cup, Zimbabwe lost all six of their group-stage matches, though they came very close to winning against New Zealand. Chasing 243 to win from 50 overs, wicketkeeper-batsman David Houghton scored 142, but Zimbabwe were all out for 239 in the final over, with two balls still remaining, thus losing by three runs. In the 1992 tournament, Zimbabwe failed to progress beyond the round-robin stage, losing seven of their eight matches, though there were two notable achievements. Against Sri Lanka in their first match, Zimbabwe posted their then-highest total of 312 for 4, with wicketkeeper-batsman Andy Flower top-scoring with 115 not out. However, the Sri Lankans chased this total down with four balls to spare, winning by three wickets. In their final match, Zimbabwe faced England in an inconsequential encounter, England having already made the semi-finals. Batting first, Zimbabwe were all out for 134. Eddo Brandes then produced a stunning spell of 4 for 21, including dismissing Graham Gooch the first ball, to help restrict England to 125 all out and thus give Zimbabwe a shock nine-run victory. These twenty World Cup matches were Zimbabwe's only international games during this period.