The Alexandra Sports Club (also called the Alex Sports Club) is a sporting complex in

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

, the capital of

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. The venue's primary use is as a

cricket ground Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the ...

, and it has hosted both international and domestic fixtures.

History

Cricket is first recorded as being played at the Alexandra Sports Club in January 1949, at a time when Harare was called Salisbury, and was the capital of the British colony of

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

. It may have been played earlier.Other matches played on Alexandra Sports Club, Harare
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2016. The inaugural first-class match on the ground was in October 1990, when a Young Zimbabwe team played a three-day game against Pakistan B (which held first-class status).First-class matches played on Alexandra Sports Club, Harare
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2016. Beginning with the

1993–94 Logan Cup The 1993–94 Logan Cup was the first competing of the Logan Cup as a first-class cricket competition. It was held in Zimbabwe from 14 January – 20 March 1994. It was won by Mashonaland Under-24s, who drew with Matabeleland in the final, and wo ...

, the Alexandra Sports Club began to host matches in top-level domestic competitions, generally for teams based in the

Mashonaland Mashonaland is a region in northeastern Zimbabwe. It is home to nearly half of the population of Zimbabwe. The majority of the Mashonaland people are from the Shona tribe while the Zezuru and Korekore dialects are most common. Harare is the larg ...

region (which includes Harare).

, Mashonaland A, Mashonaland Country Districts, Mashonaland Under-24s,

CFX Academy The CFX Academy cricket team was a first-class cricket team representing the Zimbabwe's cricket academy in the country's domestic cricket competitions. They competed in the Logan Cup from 1999 until 2002. The club played their home matches at the ...

, and

Westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

all played occasional

Logan Cup The Logan Cup is the premier domestic first-class cricket competition in Zimbabwe and is organised by Zimbabwe Cricket. It is named after James Douglas Logan. History The first recorded cricket match in what was known at the time as Rhodesia w ...

or domestic one-day games at the venue, with the most recent such fixture coming in May 2009.List A matches played on Alexandra Sports Club, Harare
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2016. The Alexandra Sports Club has hosted a number of fixtures for Zimbabwe A, including a first-class game against South Africa A in 1994, a series of games against England A in 1999, and a one-day game against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

in 2002. In 1996, the ground was also scheduled to host a game between the Zimbabwe under-19s and the England under-19s, but it was abandoned due to inclement weather. In April 2000, the ground hosted three matches in the ICC Emerging Nations Tournament, two featuring Zimbabwe A (against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

) and one between the Netherlands and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. After that, the next international tournament played there was the Africa regional qualifier for the 2017 Women's World Cup, which was played in April 2016.

Records

First-class

* Highest team total: 510/9 dec. by Northerns v. Centrals, 2008/09 * Lowest team total: 49 all out by Zimbabwe Cricket Academy v.

Australian Cricket Academy The Australian Cricket Academy was founded in 1987 as a joint initiative of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). It was initially located at Henley Beach in Adelaide before moving to the Allan Border Fi ...

, 1998/99 * Highest individual innings: 243

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

Grant Flower Grant William Flower (born 20 December 1970) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and former cricketer. He was the batting coach of the Sri Lanka cricket team, Pakistan cricket team, and Sussex. He is rated among the best Zimbabwean cricketers in histo ...

for

Matabeleland Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi ...

, 1996/97 * Best bowling in an innings: 8/50 by Darren Thomas for England A v. Zimbabwe A, 1998/99

List A

* Highest team total: 262/8 by England XI v. Zimbabwe A, 2001/02 * Lowest team total: 95 all out by

, 2002/03 * Highest individual innings: 118

Piet Rinke Harry Peter Rinke (born 5 November 1981) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer who debuted for the international team against Kenya in 2005–06. International career Rinke made 168 runs during the four-match series, more than any other Zimbabwean bat ...

for

Manicaland Manicaland is a province in eastern Zimbabwe. After Harare Province, it is the country's second-most populous province, with a population of 2.037 million, as of the 2022 census. Making it the third most densely populated province after Harare a ...

, 2003/04 * Best bowling in an innings: 5/30 by Mohammad Sharif for

Bangladeshis Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the permanent residents ...

, 2000/01Alexandra Sports Club, Harare – seven wickets in an innings in List A cricket
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2016.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links