Alistair Campbell (cricketer)

Alistair Douglas Ross Campbell (born 23 September 1972 in Salisbury – now Harare) is a former Zimbabwean Test cricketer. In total he played 60 matches in his Test career, captaining Zimbabwe on 21 occasions. He also played 188 One Day Internationals, being captain in 86 of them. He retired from cricket in 2003.

A left-handed batsman, Campbell batted in the middle order in Test cricket but usually opened in One Day International cricket. After becoming the youngest ever Zimbabwean to make a first-class century he was selected for the 1992 World Cup in Australia, aged 19. He struggled throughout but in the coming years managed to cement his spot in the national side. On the 1993–94 Pakistan tour he scored 3 half centuries against the likes of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

In October 1994 he fell painfully short of his maiden Test century when he was dismissed by Sri Lankan paceman Ravindra Pushpakumara for 99. This remained his highest Test score for five years until he brought up 3 figures against India at Nagpur in 2000–01. He scored one more Test century in his career, an innings of 103 the following season against the West Indies.

He was more successful in the ODI arena, making over 5000 runs and maintaining an average of over 30. His most prolific year was in 2000 when he made 960 runs at 38.40. Of his 7 hundreds, 2 of them were made against Australia.

Campbell took over the captaincy of Zimbabwe in 1996. He led them to a series victory in Pakistan in 1998–99, and also led the team to the Super Six stage of the 1999 World Cup. After 3 years in charge he stood down from the captaincy for what he stated as 'personal reasons'.

After not being selected for the 2003 World Cup, Campbell announced his retirement from international cricket only to reconsider when he was chosen to replace an injured Mark Vermeulen. Zimbabwe's final match of the World Cup turned out to be the final match of Campbell's career as he was never selected again for his country.

In July 2009, Alistair was re-inducted into Zimbabwe cricket after being selected Chairman of their Cricket Committee, a major step in the revival of the sport in the nation.^[1] He is also the chief selector of the Zimbabwean national cricket team.

References

• Cricinfo page on Alistair Campbell

Notes

Zimbabwe squads
Zimbabwe squad – 1992 Cricket World Cup 1 Houghton (c) 2 Arnott 3 Brandes 4 Burmester 5 Butchart 6 Campbell 7 Duers 8 A Flower (wk) 9 James 10 Jarvis 11 Pycroft 12 Shah 13 Traicos 14 Waller Zimbabwe squad – 1996 Cricket World Cup 1 A Flower (c/wk) 2 Brandes 3 Campbell 4 Davies 5 Evans 6 GW Flower 7 Lock 8 Olonga 9 Peall 10 BC Strang 11 PA Strang 12 Streak 13 Waller 14 Whittall Zimbabwe squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup 1 Campbell (c) 2 A Flower (wk) 3 GW Flower 4 Johnson 5 Goodwin 6 Carlisle 7 Olonga 8 Mbangwa 9 Streak 10 Huckle 11 Viljoen 12 Brandes 13 Strang 14 AR Whittall 15 GJ Whittall Zimbabwe squad – 2003 Cricket World Cup 2 Whittall 8 Vermeulen 9 Streak (c) 10 Wishart 14 Ervine 18 Friend 22 Ebrahim 27 Murphy 33 A. Flower 42 Marillier 44 Taibu 68 G. Flower 77 Olonga 79 Hondo 99 Blignaut Coach: Marsh Alistair Campbell and Stuart Matsikenyeri were named in the original squad but withdrew from the tournament