Meet the future of Zimbawean cricket

A century on his debut

Andy Campbell, possibly the greatest batsman Zimbabwe has ever produced, may not have to wait too long before he is consistently kept company at the wicket by a batsman of comparable ability.In Hamilton Masakadza. Zimbabwe may have discovered a jewel of untold riches to brighten their future.

Not only is Masakadza showing great promise, but he is A black cricketer in a nation where being black or white places the individual in two distinct camps. That Masakadza has come through to this point shows great mental strength.

In addition, he may well go on to University as he sat his A' levels during the 2000-01 academic year. But, cricket is what young Hamilton is showing the world that he is excels at, and a look at his very brief career gives one the distinct impression that he may well yet re-write records at home and abroad:

· In February 2000, whilst still at school - he became the first black Zimbabwean and also the youngest to score a first class century, scoring 100 for Mashonaland against CFX Academy in only his second first class match.

· In July 2000 he became the youngest Zimbabwean to appear in a Test Match.

· In July 2000 he became the youngest player to score a test century on debut (17 years and 354 days), in what was only his eighth first class match (Mohamed Ashraful of Bangladesh has since broken this record against Sri Lanka).

Masakadza has great humility as well as a steely determination. His commented after his first test hundred, "It feels wonderful and I owe a lot to my coach Mr Stephen Mangongo, he started me off in the game."

"I had no idea of the records I was breaking. When I went out this morning I just thought, this is the third day there was no way we were going to get beaten by the end of it. I wanted to take responsibility and bat the whole day."

Masakadza's a great talent with the potential to be one of the modern greats. One can only hope that the Flower brothers stick around in the test arena for a few more years to provide Masakadza with the assurance and back up that he will inevitably need.

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