Wellington Masakadza

Born in Harare, Wellington Masakadza, is a left-arm spinner from Zimbabwe. He is the youngest of the three Masakadza siblings who have represented Zimbabwe at the international level. His brothers, Hamilton Masakadza and Shingirai Masakadza, have both played Tests and ODIs for Zimbabwe.

In fact, Hamilton Masakadza was a permanent fixture in the Zimbabwean line-up across all formats (even T20Is), before a poor run of scores resulted in his exclusion from the ODI series against Ireland.

At the same time, Wellington earned his maiden call-up to the national squad. He made his debut in the first ODI in Harare on October 9, 2015. Apart from taking 2/45 with the ball, he impressed everyone with the way he handled pressure in his very first game.

Chasing 220 to win, Zimbabwe lost a flurry of wickets and were in a spot of bother at 171/7 when Wellington came out to bat. It was his crucial 38-run 8th wicket stand with Sikandar Raza that lifted Zimbabwe from this precarious position and they went on to take an all-important 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.

Soon after that, Wellington stole the limelight with the ball against Afghanistan in the first ODI at Bulawayo on October 15, 2015. He jolted Afghanistan with a double wicket-maiden in the sixth over and went on to finish with his best ODI figures of 4/21.

Just a week before 2016 World T20 was scheduled to begin, Wellington replaced Graeme Cremer in the squad. The 22-year-old left-arm spinner was inexperienced having played only ten ODIs and three T20Is till then. But he showed maturity way beyond his age when he bowled with guile and clever changes of pace in a game against Scotland. He was targeted by the Scottish batters but he showed good temperament and skills to outfox them on various occasions, finishing with a match-winning performance of 4/28.

Wellington made his Test debut against Bangladesh in Sylhet on November 3, 2018. Zimbabwe went on to win the first Test by 151 runs and it was a memorable debut for Wellington. He picked up two wickets in the final innings.

Wellington played a crucial role in the second T20I against Scotland in Edinburgh on September 17, 2021. He was handed the responsibility to bowl the final over. With 12 runs to play with, he held his nerves and took the crucial wicket of the well-set Leask to help his side get over the line and draw level in the three-match T20I series.

Over the years, Wellington Masakadza has developed into a miserly spinner and his tight lines and lengths always pose a challenge to batters. He is an integral part of the set-up for Zimbabwe in limited-overs cricket and would be eager to shine through in the upcoming ODI 2023 World Cup Qualifiers.