Mark Vermeulen
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Mark Andrew Vermeulen (born 2 March 1979) is a former Zimbabwean
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
er, who played
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and
One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...
s. He is a right-handed opening
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and occasional
off spin Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to r ...
bowler.


Domestic career

He was a former captain of the Zimbabwe Under-19 team. Despite his troubles Vermeulen had an excellent 2004–05 season in which he averaged 43.60 in domestic cricket but the rise in his numbers coincided with economic decline and political turmoil and he did not immediately have the opportunity to see if that could translate on the cricket field. He spent time at the
Matabeleland Tuskers The Matabeleland Tuskers is one of five Zimbabwean cricket franchises. They are a first-class cricket team, based in the Bulawayo Metropolitan and Matabeleland North area. They play their home matches at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. They were ...
,
Mid West Rhinos The Mid West Rhinos is one of the five cricket Zimbabwean cricket franchises. They are a first-class cricket team, based in Midlands Province and the Mashonaland West area. They play their home matches at Kwekwe Sports Club in Kwekwe. History ...
,
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and
Southern Rocks The Southern Rocks is one of five Zimbabwean cricket franchises. They are a first-class cricket team, based in the Masvingo and Matabeleland South area. They play their home matches at Masvingo Sports Club in Masvingo. The team initially ceased t ...
and completed a full house of playing for all the teams in the country when he returned to the Mash Eagles in his home-town of
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 domestic season was stalled by a player strike but once it got underway, Vermeulen made good on his commitment. He was the second-highest run scorer in the
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 ...
with 580 runs in seven matches at an average of 64.44. A complete turnaround was achieved when he was selected for the Zimbabwe A tour of Namibia in February 2009.


International career

He was an attacking and naturally athletic player, who was first drafted into the
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 ...
squad for the second Test against
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in November 2002 at the expense of Guy Whittall. He made a few decent scores in one-day internationals and played three matches in the 2003 World Cup. He was struck on the head by a ball bowled by
Irfan Pathan Irfan Pathan (; born 27 October 1984) is an Indian cricket commentator, analyst and former player. He was a bowling all-rounder and member of the Indian cricket team that won the inaugural 2007 ICC Twenty20 World Cup and 2013 ICC Champion ...
during Zimbabwe's VB Series campaign in
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in 2004. In 2009, Vermeulen made a brief comeback for ODIs against
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but then disappeared off the radar again while he made his way around Zimbabwe's domestic circuit. On the 2003–04 tour of Australia, Vermeulen fractured his
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during a One-Day International match against
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. This was the second time this had happened to him inside a year, after the identical injury occurred in February 2003 while practising. Successful
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has limited the impact that these injuries have had on Vermeulen's cricketing career. Although he had a side career in golf, Vermeulen decided to make the 2013–14 season his final go at trying to be an international cricketer. In July 2014, he was given hope that his international career would be resurrected when he was picked for the Zimbabwe A side to play
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. He scored a century in the first four-day match and could not be overlooked for the one-off Test against
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which followed.
Brendan Taylor Brendan Ross Murray Taylor (born 6 February 1986) is a Zimbabwean former international cricketer and a former Zimbabwean captain, who played all formats of the game. Taylor is a right-handed batsman but is also an off spinner. In 2015, former Z ...
described him as calm, for a change. A decade after last playing in whites for Zimbabwe, Vermeulen made a comeback in August 2014. In July 2009, the comeback was complete with Vermeulen earning a call up to the
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 ...
squad for the
One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...
Series against
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. In the first match of the series, played at
Queens Sports Club Queens Sports Club Ground is a stadium in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. It is used primarily used for cricket matches. The stadium has a capacity of up to 13,000. The stadium is the home ground for the Matabeleland Tuskers, who are the current Logan ...
,
Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...
, Vermeulen scored 92 in Zimbabwe's score of 207, before being dismissed by being run out.


Disciplinary problems

He has had a number of disciplinary problems. He was sent home from Zimbabwe's tour of
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in 2003 after ignoring management instructions to travel with the rest of the squad. Then in 2006 he was banned from all cricket played under the auspices of the
England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...
after a violent altercation with spectators at a match between Ashton and his club, Werneth in the Central Lancashire League. The original ban imposed was ten years, but on appeal it was reduced to three years, two of which were suspended. The ban took effect from 1 April 2007. In November 2006, Vermeulen was held by police after apparently fleeing the scene of a suspicious fire at the Zimbabwean Cricket Academy 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 ...
. A fire had also been set at the
Zimbabwe Cricket Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), previously known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) until 2004, is the governing body for the sport of cricket in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Cricket is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and administers th ...
headquarters. ZCU Managing Director Ozias Bvute confirmed that Vermeulen was being held "for questioning" in the incident. Vermeulen was formally charged with arson in the incident on 2 November. In January 2008, he was cleared on grounds of mental illness, and in February announced that he was hoping to make a comeback. In May 2008, Vermeulen offered to help rebuild the academy he burnt by using a percentage of his earnings that he would get by playing for Zimbabwe again. In October 2015, Vermeulen was banned from all cricket by
Zimbabwe Cricket Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), previously known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) until 2004, is the governing body for the sport of cricket in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Cricket is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and administers th ...
after posting racist comments on social media, where he compared black Zimbabweans to apes.


Style

At his most comfortable against pace bowling, Vermeulen was a back-foot player by inclination, particularly strong on the cut, pull and hook shots, although he was also a sweet timer of the ball through the covers. He was an excellent slip fielder, and an occasional offbreak bowler.


References


External links


telegraph

HowSTAT! statistical profile on Mark Vermeulen


{{DEFAULTSORT:Vermeulen, Mark 1979 births Living people Cricketers from Harare Alumni of Prince Edward School People educated at Malvern College White Zimbabwean sportspeople Afrikaner people Zimbabwean people of South African descent Zimbabwean Under-19 ODI captains Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Zimbabwean cricketers Zimbabwe One Day International cricketers Zimbabwe Test cricketers 21st-century Zimbabwean sportsmen CFX Academy cricketers Matabeleland cricketers Mashonaland A cricketers Mid West Rhinos cricketers