Charles Coventry is an aggressive middle-order batsman who can open in one-day cricket and also keep wicket. He was Zimbabwe's youngest first-class player at 15 years 303 days, for Matabeleland in 1998, although that was due to being in the right place when a selected player withdrew at the last minute. Son of international umpire Charles Coventry, he learned his cricket at Whitestone School and Christian Brothers College in Bulawayo, and plays for Bulawayo Athletic Club. He played for the national Under-19 team in the World Cup in 2002, when he was also a student at the CFX Academy. He bats in glasses and most of his successes have been in one-day cricket; he has yet to learn to build major innings in first-class cricket. He favours the lofted drive but as yet lacks the discipline required of a consistently successful batsman. Despite this, he played two Tests against India in September 2005, after the withdrawal of most of Zimbabwe's top players, and did no worse than anybody else. However, coach Kevin Curran reports that he was sent back from the West Indies tour for disciplinary reasons. He went to play club cricket in England and wasn't part of the senior Zimbabwe side for three years. He made a headline-grabbing return in August 2009, equalling the record for the highest individual ODI score by blasting an unbeaten 194 in the fourth match against Bangladesh in Bulawayo.
John Ward