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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
SOME siblings are born special, they share a gene that sees them pursue the same profession, this phenomena is most common in sport.

The Lock Brothers, Benjamin and Courtney, are siblings hogging the limelight locally and internationally due to their exploits on the tennis court.

Courtney and Benjamin are among the many Zimbabwean siblings that are excelling or have excelled in sports.

In football the siblings that quickly come to mind are the Ndlovu brothers, the late Adam, Peter and Madinda, the Chunga brothers, Moses, Kembo and Dickson as well as the Ngodzo siblings, Johannes, Joel and Zephaniah.

There are also siblings that excelled in rugby, cricket and also tennis like the Lock brothers.
The late Richard and his brother Kennedy Tsimba are the two names that Zimbabwe’s rugby history will not forget.

Zimbabwe rugby’s folklore will never forget the late Richard Tsimba, who just seven years after the country’s independence in 1987, became the first-ever black person to represent Zimbabwe in rugby.
Richard, who was nicknamed “The Black Diamond”, had five caps for the national team, scoring three tries and 12 points in aggregate and all his caps came at World Cups. At the 1987 tournament, Richard only played two matches and in the next edition in 1991 he played all of Zimbabwe’s three matches.
Just like his brother, Kennedy made his rugby debut at the biggest stage, playing for the national team at the inaugural Rugby Sevens World Cup in 1997 before he signed his first professional contract with English side Bath Rugby Club. He however, became a household name in South Africa playing for the Cheetahs where he became known as “The King of Bloemfontein” after he became the fastest player in South Africa to score 1 000 points in all competitions.

Grant and Andy Flower

He, unfortunately, only played six games for Zimbabwe between 1997 and 1998, scoring 72 points.
The Black siblings, Byron, Cara and Wayne defined Zimbabwe tennis when they were at the peak of their careers.

Byron and Wayne formed the core of the Zimbabwe Davis Cup team leading the country to the World Group in the late 1990s. It was the highest level the country’s Davis Cup team ever reached and their sister, Cara is, to date, the most successful female tennis player to emerge from this country with five Grand Slam women’s doubles titles to her name, winning the Wimbledon three times, the Australian Open once and the US Open.

The Black brothers also caused a huge upset in the 1998 World Group after they came from behind to surprise Australia, winning 3-2 after trailing 2-1.

The Hondo siblings, Douglas and Daniel also excelled in rugby and cricket. Daniel switched from cricket to rugby while his brother Douglas pursued cricket.

Daniel, a former Sables captain, formed one of the major centre pairings for Zimbabwe alongside the great John Ewing as his brother Douglas was picking up wickets for the Chevrons. Douglas played nine tests for Zimbabwe, taking 21 wickets and a best of 6-59 and in one day cricket, he took 61 wickets from 56 matches with a career best of 4-37.

Zimbabwe Cricket produced one of the greatest sporting siblings in the Flower brothers with the eldest, Andy considered the greatest cricketer to ever come out of Zimbabwe and one of the pioneers of the reverse sweep. Andy and his brother Grant were known as the “Flower Power”.

Andy led Zimbabwe to their first test victory in 1994 against Pakistan and finished his career with 4 794 test runs and a career best of 232 runs not out in 63 matches and 112 innings while his brother Grant finished with 3 457 in the longest format and a career best of 201.

Grant and Andy Flower in action

Former Chevrons fast bowler, Henry Olonga and his brother Victor Olonga also make the list of sporting siblings that left a mark in Zimbabwe’s sporting history. Henry was a regular member of the national team, featuring in three world cups in 1996, 1999 and 2003 and in his debut he became the first black and youngest cricketer to ever play for Zimbabwe.

Victor made his test debut in 1993 against Wales in Bulawayo where the Sables lost 35-14 and he scored a try. Olonga went on the play in 14 tests for Zimbabwe all coming as starts and he scored 40 points including eight tries in a career spanning from 1999-1998.