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Greatest Zimbabwe victories

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ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer

Opening post

The historic victory over Australia got me thinking about what our greatest achievements as a cricketing nation have been. It is hard to pick one above all the others but I did come up with a list of the performances that have stood out the most to me. I think for me the England tour of 1996/97 will always be a particular highlight. The team was clearly entering a golden patch, cricket seemed in good health in the country, and the political situation wasn't yet dire, even if the warning signs were there.

1983: beating Australia at the CWC.

1995: First ever test win, against Pakistan no less.

1996/97: The entire England tour of Zimbabwe.

1998: Winning Test Series in Pakistan 1-0.

1999: Beating India and South Africa at the CWC.

2001: Winning ODI Series in NZ 2-1.

2013: Test victory against Pakistan.

2017: Winning ODI Series in Sri Lanka 3-2

2022: Away ODI victory against Australia.
My All-time Zimbabwe XI
Neil Johnson, Brendan Taylor, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), David Houghton, Sean Williams, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, Blessing Muzarabani
ZCF Hall of Famer
Basically any win 😂
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer

Googly wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 4:20 pm

Basically any win 😂


Certainly in the last 20 years.
My All-time Zimbabwe XI
Neil Johnson, Brendan Taylor, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), David Houghton, Sean Williams, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, Blessing Muzarabani
ZCF Hall of Famer
Our victory against Bangladesh in 2011 on our test return was a special one for me.

T20 victory over Australia in the 2007 world cup also has to be right up there.
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
2013 Test win vs PAK and 2017 ODI series win vs SL shouldn't make the list mainly because of the strength of the opposition.

PAK back then were a very ordinary Test side, especially overseas. And SL at that time were a very weak side in LOI cricket (not much better in Tests). Even today, I think Sri Lanka's LOI side is fairly mediocre.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
This is very high.

We've been swept by BD and the Afghans. We lose to the Scots and the Irish. We've lost to Singapore and UAE.

We've been contemplating a Kenyan descent for ages.

To come to Australia after the terrible Rajput era and after the annihilation in game two and win...

... without Ervine and Blessing...

Only thing in ODI wins to compare is 83.

Test series win in Pakistan and the 07 Australia win after we were abject post 05 are up there from the other formats
The Third Innings
ZCF Hall of Famer
Oh this is right up there. Especially considering the absolute nadir of two to three months ago.
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 6:52 pm

2013 Test win vs PAK and 2017 ODI series win vs SL shouldn't make the list mainly because of the strength of the opposition.

PAK back then were a very ordinary Test side, especially overseas. And SL at that time were a very weak side in LOI cricket (not much better in Tests). Even today, I think Sri Lanka's LOI side is fairly mediocre.


I was trying to think of any highlights this millennium!
My All-time Zimbabwe XI
Neil Johnson, Brendan Taylor, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), David Houghton, Sean Williams, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, Blessing Muzarabani
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
This is probably one of the best LOI wins. It's against a full strength AUS side, away from home, and perhaps most importantly fits a pattern of continuous improvement since Houghton took over.

I had said after the BD series win, that the India and Australia series would prove whether that was a fluke or not. Well it's been proven to not have been a fluke.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Veteran
T20 win against full strength australia in a massive world cup game ..when zimbabwe was in the initial years of recovering from the 2003 fiasco ..And that is why no youngesters today are even close to Taylor he single handedly won us games
ZCF Hall of Famer

Googly wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 4:20 pm

Basically any win 😂


Ah! No, Zimbabwe have won a fair amount. The listed ones I think are fair enough.

May be we can add beating Australia in 2014 was a memorable win as well, not the greatest though.

How about beating India in a test in 2001(home). That Indian team had Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Kumble.
ZCF OriginalZCF Hall of Famer
The 2014 win was special for me personally because I was there and the atmosphere was unreal! However, ZC in 2014 was a sinking ship and we had some s**t players in the side. This side is filled with younger, more talented players with a higher ceiling. This win feels better because it comes off a run of decent performances
ZCF OriginalLegend
One thing I didn't realise was how good we were in the 90s, early 00s. We've won quite a few games in this period, and I being so young then, it just didn't sink in as much. One thing I do remember is the effort my dad would make to ensure we got to watch the games. We didn't have DSTV or anything like that, so we always had to go to others houses.

One game that never gets mentioned is when we defended 138 against West Indies in Sydney

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/car ... -scorecard

There is also the game we beat SA in Durban in 2000 (we also beat England in this tri-series with Olonga taking 6/19)

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/sta ... -scorecard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0zexugH9YM

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/sta ... -scorecard

There's this win over England at The Oval

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/nat ... -scorecard

In fact, we did pretty well that whole series even beating West Indies twice and making the final, only to go down to England in it.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/nat ... 2000-61069

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYKMgDdxMl0

Tri-Series were so fun and so many back then. Need to bring them back. This is a good way to ensure we limit player burnout and also get teams playing each other more.
ZCF Hall of Famer
I watched those two YouTube videos. Damn that brings back good memories.

Kallis getting crazy reverse with that old white ball.

I forgot what a good player Grant Flower was.
ZCF Hall of Famer
I'd love to see the return of tri series as well, and there are quite a few in the upcoming FTP.
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