Craig Ervine

He built up match experience with club sides in England, at Bexhill among others, and in Northern Ireland with Lisburn in Belfast. Back in Zimbabwe he joined the Southern Rocks and finished as their top run-maker, collecting 575 runs at an average of 33.82. Recognition followed with a place in the squad for the 2010 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, and later that year he made his ODI debut against India. A middle-order batsman, he scores steadily by finding gaps in the field and running hard between the wickets.

He performed well at the 2011 World Cup, though Zimbabwe did not progress to the knockout rounds, and he made little impression at the 2012 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka. Like many of his countrymen, he has gone through spells of inconsistency. In 2013 he left Zimbabwe, pointing to financial insecurity, and took up an Irish passport through a great-grandfather. He turned out for the Northern Knights in Ireland and then played club cricket in Perth.

Ervine returned to contention ahead of the 2015 World Cup and was named in the squad. He ended the tournament as Zimbabwe's third-highest run-scorer, and his 42 against the UAE helped secure the team's sole victory of the event. He has since been a regular across all three formats. His finest Test moment came in 2017 with a hundred at the R Premadasa Stadium, although Zimbabwe still lost that game.

By now a senior figure in the team, he was appointed Test captain in February 2020 and led the side in a one-off match against Bangladesh. In 2021 he succeeded Sean Williams as captain in the limited-overs formats as well.