Prosper Utseya (born 26 March 1985 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 ...

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 ...

) is a retired

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 plays all formats of the game. He captained

from 2006 to 2010. He bowls right-arm

off break 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 ...

and is a useful right-hand batsman. Utseya has not played any form of cricket since 2015.

Early life

Rising from the ranks of township cricket in Harare's Highfield suburb, Utseya attended Churchill School, the cradle of many black Zimbabwean players, thanks to Zimbabwe Cricket Union scholarships.

Domestic career

Utseya was a promising talent at the school level and made his first-class debut as an opener for Mashonaland A at the age of 15. He scored a fifty in a tight situation in just his second

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 ...

match against Manicaland a day before his 16th birthday and soon moved into the Under-19 and Zimbabwe A sides with some notable bowling performances along the way. In 2004, he was moved to Manicaland to strengthen the provincial side there, and was selected for the CFX Academy. His maiden first-class

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Takin ...

, 5/32, came against Manicaland in October of that year. Utseya has been a force to be reckoned with in Zimbabwean domestic cricket. His spin-bowling partnership with Timycen Maruma has resulted in a series of domestic titles, and in 2008-09 his ten-wicket haul helped Easterns clinch a thrilling one-wicket victory in a low-scoring contest against Northerns at Alexandra Sports Club in Harare that secured the

. Utseya enjoyed a steady, if unspectacular, domestic season in 2009–10, though his franchise,

Mountaineers Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

dominated the first-class scene.

International career

While his initial place in the national team owed much to the withdrawal of several white players after

Heath Streak Heath Hilton Streak (16 March 1974 – 3 September 2023) was a Zimbabwean cricketer and cricket coach who played for and captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team. He was the all time leading wicket taker for Zimbabwe in Test cricket with 2 ...

's sacking as captain, Utseya more than earned his place subsequently. He continued to hold a place in a weakened national side and took up the captaincy from Terry Duffin in 2006. Utseya's bowling during the tour to

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

in May 2006 where his flight and spin belied his lack of experience and years. He was consistently able to stem the flow of runs in the middle overs, and he provided two of the series highlights and one when he comprehensively beat Brian Lara with successive deliveries in the first match in Trinidad and the other his remarkable diving, juggling boundary catch in the second. Utseya is the first and joint world record holder for conceding the fewest runs (six runs) in a

T20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). In ...

after bowling the complete quota of overs (four overs is the maximum quota in a T20 match). Utseya tendered his resignation as national captain after the side's disappointing performance at the T20 World Cup in May 2010 saying that he was stepping down in the interest of the team's future development. He led Zimbabwe in 67 one-day internationals, with 20 victories, and all 10 of the Twenty20 internationals the team has played. Utseya took a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

at Harare Sports Club and became the second Zimbabwean to claim a hat-trick when he dismissed three South African batsmen in consecutive deliveries in the third One-Day International match of the Tri-series in August 2014. Utseya accounted for the wickets of Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw and David Miller. In process, he also took his career best figure and ended his innings with a figure of 5/36

Bowling action

In August 2014, Utseya reported for a suspect bowling action following the third ODI against

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 ...

. Utseya was the fourth offspinner to have been reported for a suspect action over the last few months; the others were Sachithra Senanayake,

Kane Williamson Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand international cricketer and a former captain of the New Zealand national team. On 27 February 2023, Williamson became the all-time leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket. ...

, and

Saeed Ajmal Saeed Ajmal SI ( Punjabi, ; born 14 October 1977) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who played all forms of the game. He is a right-arm off-spin bowler who bats right handed. At domestic level in Pakistan he represented Faisal ...

. Utseya was ranked 15th in the ICC ODI Bowling Rankings in September 2006. He has a reputation for being an extremely parsimonious bowler, albeit with less wicket taking prowess. In
Cricinfo article from August 2006
he had the lowest economy rate (3.84) amongst all spinners in the history of ODI cricket. In comparison, the economy rates for

Muttiah Muralitharan Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan (born 1972) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, businessman and former professional cricketer. Averaging over six wickets per Test match, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the ...

and

Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980), also known by his nickname Bhajji, is a former Indian cricketer. He later became a politics, politician, serving as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha. He is also a fil ...

at the same time were 3.85 and 4.11 respectively.

Controversies

Utseya claims that he became a victim of racism during the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, and slammed allegations against former Zimbabwe cricketer Alistair Campbell, managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket, over the appointment of an "all-white" coaching staff and administration. He claimed that Campbell had "personal issues" against him, and was thus not included in the starting XI in any of the world cup games, despite being in the squad.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Utseya, Prosper 1985 births Living people Cricketers from Harare Alumni of Churchill School (Harare) Zimbabwean cricketers Zimbabwe One Day International cricketers Zimbabwe Test cricketers Zimbabwe Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Zimbabwean sportsmen Zimbabwean ODI captains Mashonaland cricketers Manicaland cricketers Midlands cricketers Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup One Day International hat-trick takers