Neil Robert Ferreira (born 3 June 1979) is a 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. Having also tried his hand at sports including tennis, squash, and hockey, he made his name as a left-handed opening batsman for the academy and 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 ...

. He is also a

wicket keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

. His first Test involvement was in the August 2005 Test against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Prior to playing for his country, Ferreira also played first-class cricket for Manicaland C.C., scoring an impressive 501 runs in the 1999–2000 season and also being the leading run scorer in the 2001–02 season with 650 runs. On 8 August 2005 Ferreira received his Zimbabwean test cap being the 70th cricketer to represent Zimbabwe. Ferreira opened the batting for Zimbabwe's first innings but only managed 5 runs off 9 balls, Zimbabwe was then dismissed for just 59 and New Zealand captain

Stephen Fleming Stephen Paul Fleming (born 1 April 1973) is a cricket coach and former captain of the New Zealand national cricket team. He was a left-handed Batting order (cricket), opening batter and an occasional right arm slow medium bowler. He is New Zea ...

enforced the follow on and once again Ferreira opened the batting and was dismissed for 16 runs off 90 balls, Zimbabwe were then all out for 99. Ferreira has raised three sons two of which were playing B-Grade for

Great Southern Grammar Great Southern Grammar is an Independent School, independent non-denominational Christian Mixed-sex education, co-educational Primary school, primary and Secondary school#Australia, secondary Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school, ...

School. Matthew Ferreira was an all-around right-hand batsman and right-arm leg spinner and Michael Ferreira is a top-order left-hand batsman and a handy right-arm medium pace. His third son Colin Ferreira partakes in other activities than cricket and plays numerous instruments.

References

1979 births Living people Alumni of Falcon College CFX Academy cricketers Manicaland cricketers Matabeleland cricketers Mashonaland cricketers Zimbabwe Test cricketers 21st-century Zimbabwean sportsmen Zimbabwean cricketers Cricketers from Harare White Zimbabwean sportspeople {{Zimbabwe-cricketbio-stub