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Zimbabwe Cricket captain Sean Williams quits

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BY FIRDOSE MOONDA

Sean Williams has informed the Zimbabwe team management of his intention to step away from international cricket after the team’s current tour of Ireland, but he remains open to the possibility of playing white-ball cricket for the country in the future.

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Williams, the Zimbabwe Test captain right now, is with the national team in Ireland, but had earlier requested the selectors to not consider him for the five T20Is in Ireland, starting Friday, or the T20Is in Scotland next month.

But he is available for the three ODIs against Ireland, which will come after the T20Is.

ESPNcricinfo understands that he has cited bio bubble fatigue and uncertainty over his future as a cricketer as the main reasons for his decision.

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Williams arrived in Ireland on Wednesday, six days after the rest of the squad, after requesting a mental-health break from the T20I series, and told the team management of his decision shortly after completing his isolation.

Before his arrival, Zimbabwe Cricket had to announce a fifth captain since the start of 2020 for the tour. 

Craig Ervine will lead the side in Ireland and Scotland following on from Chamu Chibhabha, Brendan Taylor, Sikandar Raza and Williams over the last few series.

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ESPNcricinfo understands that while Williams was not unhappy to not be given leadership duties on this tour, he had several other gripes with the way Zimbabwe cricket is being run and their string of poor results.

Under coach Lalchand Rajput, Zimbabwe have only won four ODIs in three years, all against the UAE, and there are serious concerns among senior players that they will not qualify for the 2023 50-over World Cup – Zimbabwe are currently at the bottom of the World Cup Super League points table.

Williams (34), is a veteran of the Zimbabwe team, having made his international debut in 2005, when he turned out in an ODI against South Africa in Johannesburg.

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Overall, he has played 14 Tests, 136 ODIs and 47 T20Is. Primarily a middle-order batter, the left-handed Williams has 1034 runs in Tests, at an average of 41.36, with four centuries and three half-centuries, as well as 3958 ODI runs at 35.02, with four hundreds and 32 fifties.

He also 945 runs in T20Is, at an average of 22.50 and strike rate of 128.39, with six fifties.

To go with those numbers, he has picked up 21 wickets in Tests, 72 in ODIs, and 32 in T20Is with his left-arm spin.

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He led Zimbabwe for the first time during a triangular T20I series in Singapore, with Nepal as the third team, in September-October 2019, but has been the team’s captain in a more regular capacity since 2020.

His performance with the bat, especially, has been noteworthy since he was given the reins of the Test team: three of his four Test centuries have come in four Tests as captain, including his best of 151* in what could turn out to be his last Test, and he has an average of 96.20 in those games. – ESPNcricinfo

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Renowned conservationist Alan Elliott passes away at 86

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

The conservation world is mourning the loss of Alan Elliott, a pioneering conservationist and tourism operator who passed away this morning around 2AM at Materdei Hospital in Bulawayo.

Elliott, affectionately known as “Mandebele,” was 86 years old.

Photo by Charlene Hewat

Elliott’s contributions to conservation and tourism in Zimbabwe are immeasurable. He was one of the first people to bring tourism to Hwange, Zimbabwe’s largest national park, and founded Touch the Wild, a tourism operation that hosted numerous celebrities, including the Queen and Prince Philip.

We then contacted Charlene Hewat, a close associate of Elliott’s Presidential Elephant Research Trust (PERT), to explain further about his conservation work. Hewat described Elliott as an extraordinary conservationist who dedicated his life to protecting elephants. “Alan’s legacy is imprinted on the wild landscapes he loved so dearly and protected so fiercely,” Hewat said in a Facebook post.

In an interview, Hewat elaborated on Elliott’s work, highlighting his efforts to protect elephants in Hwange. “He went and got a decree from President (Robert) Mugabe to protect the presidential elephants, and he received that decree, and they agreed that they would not shoot any elephants within the Dete Hwange area,” Hewat explained.

Elliott’s passing has sent shockwaves throughout the conservation community, with many paying tribute to his remarkable legacy. “He’s a legend. Everybody knows him,” Hewat said. “He was an MP in Hwange, spoke fluent Ndebele, and knew a lot of the ministers. He’s just an amazing man, a legend for Zimbabwe.”

As a testament to his enduring legacy, Elliott had asked Hewat to carry on his work with the Presidential Elephant Research Trust. “It was his vision to promote young Zimbabwean researchers, and that’s something that I share and think we can take forward for the country and for the youth,” Hewat said.

 

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UPDATE: ZimParks rangers injured in elephant attack receiving medical treatment

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BY STAFF REPORTER

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) spokesperson, Tinashe Farawo has provided an update on the condition of two rangers who were injured earlier this week by elephants in the Sengwa, Chirisa Safari area.

The rangers, who were investigating a reported case of a snared buffalo, encountered a herd of elephants with calves that charged at them.

According to the update, one of the rangers has undergone treatment for his left arm and is currently in a stable condition.

The other ranger had a successful abdominal operation and is currently receiving surgery for his broken left arm and left leg.

The incident highlights the dangers faced by wildlife rangers in Zimbabwe. In a similar incident in March 2025, a Zimparks ranger was killed by an elephant in Kariba during a routine patrol in the Gatche-gatche area.

The authority has encouraged people to minimize movements at night to reduce the risk of human-wildlife conflicts.

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Zimbabwe on track for 6% growth as economy recovers from drought

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BY REUTERS

Zimbabwe is on track to achieve a forecasted 6% economic growth in 2025 helped by good agricultural output and strong commodity prices, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said on Thursday.

The Southern African country’s economy has shown signs of recovery in the first half of the year following a severe drought and currency turbulence in 2024 that pushed GDP growth down to 2%.

“Given the positive economic developments during the period January to June, we are confident that the projected economic growth of 6% alluded to in the 2025 National Budget is achievable,” Ncube told parliament in a mid-year budget review.

“All sectors of the economy are expected to record positive growth in 2025, mainly on account of a favourable agriculture season, improved electricity generation, stable exchange rate and inflation rate,” he said.

He did not give an update on the budget deficit, which was seen at 0.4% of gross domestic product in 2025 during the budget forecast last November.

Zimbabwe’s fiscal position remains under strain from grain imports, drought relief spending and the public sector wage bill. While the government has collected more revenue than in the same period last year, analysts say containing the deficit may prove difficult without new fiscal measures.

The local currency, the ZiG, launched in April 2024 to replace the Zimbabwe dollar, has largely remained stable against the U.S. dollar but is still overshadowed by widespread use of the dollar in everyday transactions.

Ncube reiterated the government’s commitment to the gold-backed unit and said the currency had benefited from tight monetary and fiscal policies.

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