Tino Mawoyo

A tenacious opener, Tino Mawoyo's most notable successes in international cricket have come in the Test arena. In just his second Test, he became the third Zimbabwean to carry his bat, defying Saeed Ajmal's doosra to score 163 against Pakistan at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. Further appearances in the format were stifled somewhat by Zimbabwe's limited Test fixture list, but Mawoyo has maintained a presence in domestic cricket. He has also branched out as one of Zimbabwe's more eloquent television commentators, and launched a foundation and junior development tournament under his own name.

The tournament is hosted in Mutare, where Mawoyo was born and took up the game in his youth. He had already played first-class cricket before he captained Zimbabwe Under-19s at the World Cup in 2003-04. Early on his appearances were limited by educational commitments, but he turned out enough to emphasise his class and was called up for an A-team Test against Bangladesh in 2006. He made his ODI debut on the trip to that country at the end of the year, but was not able to keep his place for the World Cup that followed.

Nevertheless, he remained one of the most talented batsmen in Zimbabwe, and as leading scorer in the Logan Cup he was a key member of the Easterns side that completed the domestic double in 2006-07. He stayed in the Eastern highlands' domestic fold by signing for Mountaineers under the new franchise system and was the country's leading scorer in the Faithwear Metbank one-day competition in 2009-10 with 424 runs at 60.57. A decade later, he had developed into a shrewd and accomplished captain, guiding Mountaineers to a hat-trick of Logan Cup titles.
Liam Brickhill