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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
THE fastest Zimbabwean bowler to reach 50 wickets in One Day Internationals (ODIs), Tawanda Mupariwa bowed out of the game in style, taking a five-wicket haul for his Australian side New Town Cricket Club over the weekend.

The 37-year-old right arm pace bowler finished with figures of 5/44 in semi-final defeat at the hands of University as he retired from all forms of the game. The former Milton Boys High School student played 45 international games for Zimbabwe.

“Today saw Tawanda Mupariwa retire from playing the game he has served with great distinction after our 1st Grade semi-final loss to University. In the style of a true champion, Tawanda bowled magnificently taking 5/44 from 18.2 overs.

“After playing international cricket for Zimbabwe, including being the fastest to 50 ODI wickets for his country, Tawanda made his way to Tasmania and made his way to our club through the recruiting of Brad Loveluck. Talent aside, Tawanda is a magnificent person, he is generous, kind, gently spoken, yet fiercely competitive,” posted New Town Cricket Club.

Mupariwa made his international debut in April 2004 in an ODI series against Sri Lanka in Harare, a match the visitors won by 72 runs, getting two wickets in the match, including one of Lankan great, Sanath Jayasuriya, giving away 44 runs in 10 overs. In 2008, he became the fastest Zimbabwean bowler to take 50 ODI wickets, reaching the milestone in 28 games, nine fewer than Eddo Brandes. He went on to finish his international career with 58 scalps, 57 coming from ODIs while one was from T20Is. He played 40 ODIs, four T20Is and one Test for the Chevrons.

In first class cricket, Mupariwa picked up 52 wickets in 83 matches with the best figures of 7/42 while in List A, the medium pacer racked up 164 wickets in 125 appearances with best figures of 6/52 and 20 scalps in 42 T20 encounters with a best of 2/11.

Turning out to be a great bowler, Mupariwa could also chip in with the bat down the order. In ODIs, he finished with 185 runs in 32 innings and a high score of 33 while in his single Test, he scored 15 runs with a best of 14 and also made five runs in two innings in the shortest version.

In the domestic set up, Mupariwa scored 1764 runs in 136 First Class innings with a best of 64 runs not out while in List A, he made 906 runs in 96 innings with his highest score being 49. In T20, he notched up 280 runs in 29 innings and a best of 37 not out.

Retirement from playing cricket is however not the end of the road for Mupariwa in the game as he will venture into coaching.

“He has great knowledge of the game and he is prepared to share and support any player willing to learn. We wish Tawanda well in retirement but can’t wait for him to continue his coaching journey with the Bucks and within pathway programs at Cricket Tasmania,” New Town posted.

Mupariwa, a product of the Bulawayo development programme started off as a wicketkeeper but Wisdom Siziba claimed that position in the local development team and when he joined Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC), former umpire Chuck Coventry encouraged him to develop his pace bowling, which saw him make his first class debut for Matabeleland in the 2001/2002 season.

He also comes from a family of cricketers where his two younger brothers, Tony and Tafara have all played franchise cricket for Tuskers with the latter, part of the present Tuskers team. — brandon_malvin