On This Day: Birth of Denis Atkinson and Hamilton Masakadza

August 9, 2020 marks the 94th birth anniversary of the former West Indies captain Denis Atkinson. He played 22 Tests for his country during his 10-year international career and scored 922 runs with the highest score of 219, also his only 100+ score. Apart from his top score, he also notched up five fifties. Atkinson also picked up 47 wickets in his Test career which included three five-wicket hauls.

The circumstances under which Atkinson got to his highest score were extraordinary. He was involved in a marathon 347-run partnership with Clairmonte Depeiaza against Australia in 1955. The duo had joined hands with the team in deep trouble at 147/6 responding to Australia’s gargantuan 668. The partnership was then the record in first-class cricket for the seventh wicket.

Atkinson was also the captain of the team and was dismissed after scoring 219 runs during his 351-minute stay at the crease to propel West Indies to 510 in the first innings. Overall, Denis Atkinson played 78 first-class matches and went on to score 2812 runs with five 100+ scores and also scalped 200 wickets. The last competitive game of his career came in the 1960-61 season. He passed away on November 9, 2001, at the age of 75.

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Former Zimbabwe cricketer Hamilton Masakadza also celebrates his birthday on August 9. He retired from all forms of the game in 2019 after the T20I tri-series in Bangladesh. Masakadza was the Zimbabwe skipper when he called time on his international career. He played 38 Tests, 209 ODIs and 66 T20Is over the course of 18 years at the highest level.

Masakadza is also one of the very few players to play alongside two of his brothers, Shingirai and Wellington, in the national team. He scored 2223 Test, 5658 ODI and 1662 T20I runs in his career and also smashed 10 tons. Masakadza also scalped a total of 52 wickets across formats with his medium-pace bowling.

He was appointed as Zimbabwe’s Director of Cricket soon after his retirement and will play a crucial role in taking cricket in the country forward.