Tall and athletic, Andy Waller's career suffered as a result of a spate of injuries and the demands of tending his tobacco farm. A popular character, he was an entertaining batsman, an outstanding fielder, and a more than useful - if occasional - medium-pace bowler. A regular in the Zimbabwe one-day side from the mid 1980s - he appeared in the 1987, 1992 and 1996 World Cups - his Test debut didn't come until he was 37. This was largely because of his reputation as something of a slogger, a tag he disproved with a patient 50 in his first Test against England in 1996-97. He retained his place for the second Test, which turned out to be his last first-class appearance. He played another seven ODIs before retiring at the end of the season.

The Wallers lost their farm during the Zimbabwean government's controversial land reform programme and Waller moved in to coaching full-time, taking up a position with Namibia. After a couple of years, he moved back to Zimbabwe, via another temporary coaching spell in Johannesburg. Among several former players headhunted as Zimbabwe's cricket authorities looked to revamp their system, in April 2009 Waller was appointed as a coaching manager by Zimbabwe Cricket and tasked with supervising domestic coaching structures. In September of that year, he became Mid West Rhinos' head coach, but spent the Zimbabwean winter in the United Kingdom and a position with the Eastbourne College First XI. When Alan Butcher's tenure as coach of the Zimbabwe national side came to an end, Waller's was one of several names thrown into the hat to succeed him. In May 2013, Waller was named national coach but he was on a tour of Sri Lanka with the Eastbourne College team at the time. Steve Mangongo performed the head-coaching duties for Zimbabwe's home series against Bangladesh, and after Waller had wrapped up his duties in the UK his first coaching assignment with Zimbabwe was the five-match series against India in July.
Martin Williamson and Liam Brickhill