Stuart Matsikinyire
By Lovemore Dube
STUART Matsikinyire, Zimbabwe’s former right-handed batsman was for long the country’s opener.
His star shone early when he was good enough to represent the country in the Under-16 and Under-19 levels.
Born on 3 May 1983, Matsikinyire made his international debut against Pakistan in November 2002 at the age of 19.
On that historic day, he opened the batting.
His stock continued to rise and he was retained for the national team that took part in the 2003 World Cup. He only played one game however.
But that did not deter him from continuing to rise despite the fact that it is every player’s dream to play at the World Cup as later that year, he was part of the Zimbabwe team that played in the NatWest Series in England.
He scored 44 runs at Trent Bridge as Zimbabwe pulled won.
Matsikinyire was a part-time bowler and his strengths were on the cut and pull.
He struggled against good pace bowlers of the world.
With the never ending problems with Zimbabwe Cricket, in 2006 he refused to sign a contract.
A year later he returned to action to take his One Day Internationals runs to 1000 in 2007.
In the 2007 World Cup squad Matsikinyire was among four players in the team who had notched that milestone.
He was to reach a personal best in One Day International action, when he scored 89 in the 2007 World Cup. That earned him the Man of the Match gong.
Two years later he was involved in a sixth wicket partnership with Tatenda Taibu scoring 188 runs.
Matsikinyire scored two Test and 13 ODI half-centuries.
Matsikinyire was back then among four players to have played more than 100 ODIs with Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza and Elton Chigumbura.
He last played for Zimbabwe in 2015.
Upon retirement he was appointed Zimbabwe A coach.
In a decent career, the Harare born and bred star played alongside Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Andy Blignaut, Taibu, Hamilton Masakadza, Henry Olonga, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mpariwa to mention a few.
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