Hamilton Masakadza (born 9 August 1983) is a Zimbabwean formercricketer, who played all formats of the game for Zimbabwe. He captained thenational team during2016 ICC World T20, but was relieved of his duties following an indifferent team performance in the tournament, where they failed to get past the qualifying round.^[1] In February 2019,Zimbabwe Cricket confirmed that Masakadza would captain the national side across all three formats for the 2019–20 season.^[2]

He was a right-handedbatsman and occasional right-arm medium-pacebowler. His brothers,Shingirai Masakadza andWellington Masakadza, also played for Zimbabwe; all three have played domestically for theMountaineers.

He became the first player to score multiple 150-plus scores in a series or tournament, where he achieved the feat against Kenya in 2009.^[3] In October 2018, during Zimbabwe'stour to South Africa, Masakadza became the fourth cricketer for Zimbabwe to play in 200One Day International (ODI) matches.^[4][5]

In September 2019, Masakadza announced that he would retire from international cricket following the conclusion of the2019–20 Bangladesh Tri-Nation Series.^[6][7] On 20 September 2019, he played in his final international cricket match for Zimbabwe, againstAfghanistan.^[8] In October 2019, Masakadza was appointed asZimbabwe Cricket's director of cricket.^[9]

In February 2000, aged just 16 and still a schoolboy atChurchill School, Masakadza became the first black Zimbabwean, and the youngest player to score afirst-class century. He made hisTest debut soon after, in July 2001, against theWest Indies in Harare. In his team's second innings, he made 119, thus becoming – at the age of 17 years and 354 days – the youngest player to make a century on his Test debut. However, he held this record for less than two months, before it was broken byBangladesh'sMohammad Ashraful.

After briefly putting his professional cricket career on hold to study at theUniversity of the Free State, Masakadza was recalled to the national team in late 2004 following therebel crisis, and has maintained a regular presence since.

He was the leading run-scorer forMountaineers in the2017–18 Pro50 Championship, with 317 runs in six matches.^[10]

During the team's six-year exile from Test cricket (2005–2011), he increased his ability inOne Day Internationals. His first century in this format came on 14 August 2009, against Bangladesh in Bulawayo, and in October 2009 he made scores of 156 and 178not out in a home ODI series againstKenya – thus becoming the first Zimbabwean to make two scores of 150 or more in ODIs, and the first player from any country to make two such scores in the same series.^[11] He has the record for scoring the most runs in a five-match ODI series (467)^[12]

When Zimbabwe made its return to Test cricket in August 2011, playing a one-off match against Bangladesh in Harare, Masakadza made 104 in the first innings – thus making his second Test century ten years after his first.^[13] In 2015, he made his first appearance in the seniorCricket World Cup, having previously made two appearances in theUnder-19 version (in2000 and2002).

In 2014, he along withSikandar Raza, set the record for the highest ever partnership for Zimbabwe in ODIs. (224 for the first wicket)^[14]

As of November 2015, Masakadza is Zimbabwe's sixth-highest Test run-scorer and fifth-highest ODI run-scorer. He is also the country's leadingTwenty20 International run-scorer, becoming the first Zimbabwean to reach 1,000 runs in this format on 29 September 2015.^[15]

In Zimbabwe'stour of Bangladesh in January 2016, Masakadza set a world record for the most runs scored in a T20I bilateral series, with a total of 222 across four games.^[16]

FollowingIndia's tour to Zimbabwe in June 2016, Masakadza became the first Zimbabwean cricketer to play in 50 Twenty20 International matches.^[17]

In August 2019, Zimbabwe Cricket initiated a new role called director of cricket with the intention of restructuring its management, and Hamilton Masakadza was appointed as the first director of cricket at Zimbabwe Cricket. In October 2019, Hamilton assumed his duties as Zimbabwe Cricket's director of cricket. He was given the task of defining policy, strategy, and programs of best practice by all of Zimbabwe's teams during his tenure.^[18]

In March 2024, after serving as Zimbabwe Cricket's director of cricket for five years, he resigned from the position as a result of Zimbabwe's failure to qualify for the2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.^[19][20]

• Hamilton Masakadza atESPNcricinfo

• 1983 births
• Living people
• Cricketers from Harare
• Alumni of Churchill School (Harare)
• Manicaland cricketers
• Mashonaland cricketers
• Matabeleland cricketers
• Zimbabwe One Day International cricketers
• Zimbabwe Test cricketers
• Cricketers who made a century on Test debut
• Zimbabwe Twenty20 International cricketers
• 21st-century Zimbabwean sportsmen
• Zimbabwe Test cricket captains
• Zimbabwean ODI captains
• Zimbabwean cricketers
• Sylhet Strikers cricketers
• Zimbabwean expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh
• Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
• Kala Bagan Krira Chakra cricketers
• Abahani Limited cricketers
• Zimbabwe Select XI cricketers

• Articles with short description
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• Use dmy dates from November 2020