Duncan Andrew Gwynne Fletcher is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and former cricketer, who has coached the England and Indian national teams. He led the Indian team to be the winners of the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, where the team was undefeated during the tournament.
The Zimbabwe national rugby union team, nicknamed the Sables, represents the Zimbabwe Rugby Union in international competition. While sides representing the colony of Rhodesia have played as early as 1910, the modern day Zimbabwe rugby team did not play its first test until 1981, against Kenya. Zimbabwe has competed in two World Cups, in 1987 and 1991, in place of South Africa, who were sanctioned by the IRB at the time due to apartheid. Zimbabwe is categorized as Tier 3 Development One, which prioritizes Zimbabwe over other nations due to historical success as well as popularity of rugby in the nation.
Denis Stanley Tomlinson was a Rhodesian cricketer who played in one Test match for South Africa in 1935. He was the first Rhodesian-born cricketer to represent South Africa.
Percy Neville Frank Mansell MBE was a Rhodesian cricketer who played in thirteen Tests for South Africa from 1951 to 1955. Mansell was a bespectacled middle-order batsman, slips fieldsman, and leg-break and googly bowler who sometimes bowled medium-pace.
Anthony John Pithey was a Rhodesian cricketer who played in seventeen Test matches for South Africa between 1957 and 1965. He also made 65 appearances for Rhodesia, captaining them 34 times. He was a technically correct top-order batsmen who developed a reputation for being a stayer rather than a stroke-maker. His early promise saw him represent South Africa as a young player, but he only secured his place in the team toward the end of his career. He toured Australia with Trevor Goddard's Springboks in 1963–64, during which, with his brother David and the Pollocks he formed part of the first pair of brothers to represent a country in a Test match.
David Bartlett Pithey was a Rhodesian cricketer who played in eight Tests for South Africa from 1963 to 1967. As well as playing for Rhodesia and Western Province, he played first-class cricket for Oxford University and Northamptonshire. Christopher Martin-Jenkins described him as "spasmodically brilliant". His brother, Tony, also played Test cricket for South Africa; they played together in five of the Tests on the 1963–64 tour of Australasia.
John Harcourt "Jackie" du Preez was a Rhodesian cricketer who played in two Test matches for South Africa against Australia in 1967.
The history of cricket in Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia and before 1965 Southern Rhodesia, includes Rhodesia first forming a first-class cricket team in August 1890, and the inaugural Test appearance of Zimbabwe in October 1992.
Brian Fettes Davison is a former cricketer who played 467 first-class matches for Rhodesia, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and Tasmania, and former member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly.
The New Zealand national cricket team toured South Africa from October 1961 to February 1962 and played a five-match Test series against the South Africa national cricket team. The series was drawn 2–2, with New Zealand's victory in the third Test the team's first Test match win outside their home country. New Zealand captain John Reid scored a total of 1,915 runs during the tour, setting a record for the most runs scored in South Africa by a touring batsman. The tour was the second to South Africa by a team from New Zealand, the previous tour having taken place in 1953–54.
Jack William Pithey was a Rhodesian politician who served as the unrecognised state's Acting President between 1 November 1978 and 5 March 1979. He was also the President of the Senate of Rhodesia from 1970 to 1978 having previously been Member of Parliament for the Avondale constituency in north-west Salisbury between 1964 and 1970.
Rugby union in Zimbabwe is a popular sport and ranks after association football and cricket as one of the oldest and most popular sports in the country. The Zimbabwe national team, commonly known as the Sables, have been playing international rugby since the early 1900s and have made appearances in two Rugby World Cups Zimbabwe at the Rugby World Cup on two occasions. As with rugby union in Namibia, the country's lack of a professional structure, and opportunity for player's to earn an income playing rugby, has been a problem for national organisers.
Kantilal Kanjee was a Zimbabwean first-class and Test cricket umpire.
Frederick George Brooks was a Rhodesian sportsman who represented his country as both a cricketer and rugby union player. He also played a Test match for the England national rugby union team.
Garfield Sobers, captain of the West Indies cricket team and one of the most prominent cricketers in the world, outraged many in the Caribbean in September 1970 when he took part in a friendly double-wicket tournament at Salisbury Sports Club in Rhodesia, a country in southern Africa that was unrecognised internationally because of its mostly white minority government. The resulting furore nearly caused him to lose the captaincy, and threatened the unity of the West Indies team itself.
Sydney Austen Cowper was a South African-born cricketer whose six-match first-class career spanned from 1908 to 1924. He played once for Western Province in South African domestic cricket, twice for the Argentine national side, and finally three times for Rhodesia.
Michael Raymond George Huckle is a Rhodesian former cricketer who played a single first-class match for the Rhodesian national side in October 1966.
Desmond Charles van Jaarsveldt is a Rhodesian-born South African retired rugby union player and former captain of the Springboks. He was nicknamed the "Bald Eagle" due to his pace on the wing and bald head. He became the first Rhodesian to captain South Africa. Upon retiring from playing, he acted as a coach and administrator for Rhodesian rugby during the transition of the country into Zimbabwe.
