Grant Flower
Zimbabwe
Personal information
Batting style	Right hand bat
Bowling style	Slow left arm orthodox
Career statistics
	Tests	ODIs
Matches	67	219
Runs scored	3457	6536
Batting average	29. The Zimbabwean cricket team is a national Cricket team representing Zimbabwe. Left-arm orthodox spin is a style of bowling in the sport of Cricket. Test cricket is the longest form of the Sport of Cricket. It has long been considered the ultimate test of playing ability between cricketing nations Note Most of the information here pertains to men's cricket ODI matches are also played in Women's cricket. Batting average is a Statistic in both Cricket and Baseball measuring the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters, respectively 54	33. 69
100s/50s	6/15	6/40
Top score	201*	142*
Overs	563	903. In the sport of Cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession 2
Wickets	25	104
Bowling average	61. In the sport of Cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings Meanings of wicket Set of stumps Primarily the wicket Bowling average is a Statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the Sport of Cricket. 47	40. 25
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	n/a
Best bowling	4/47	4/32
Catches/stumpings	43/-	86/-
As of 14 March 2004 Source: Cricinfo

Grant William Flower (born 20 December 1970 in Salisbury - now Harare) is a Zimbabwean cricketer. An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of Sports &ndash most notably Cricket and Baseball during For other uses see Stump (disambiguation Stump is a term used in the Sport of Cricket where has three different meanings Events 1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Events 69 - Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor. Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Harare (həˈrɑreɪ or /həˈrɑri/ formerly Salisbury) is the Capital of Zimbabwe. See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election Cricket is a bat-and-ball team Sport that originated in England and is now played in more than 100 countries He is rated among the best Zimbabwean cricketers in history for his handy left arm spin and fine batting skills. He was a fitness fanatic who spends hours in the gym, and was also regarded as a brilliant fielder who was usually seen in the gully. "Flower Power", the combination of Grant and his brother Andy Flower, was the mainstay of Zimbabwean batting for a decade. Andrew "Andy" Flower (born 28 April 1968 in Cape Town, South Africa) was an international Cricketer for Zimbabwe and is now the His was his team's most successful opening batsman who played the role of anchorman, with strokeplayers coming in down the order. He played a lead role in Zimbabwe's in arguably Zimbabwe's finest Test victory, against a strong Pakistan side. He would show a liking for the Pakistani side over his career, averaging over 40 and scoring 3 tons including an unbeaten 201.

Early Days

Grant Flower was educated along with his brother Andy at North Park School where they were the best players in their age groups. Although always an allrounder, he bowled seamers in his early days and his bowling was rated more than his batting. It was in high school,at St. George's College where he changed to spin bowling.

In the summer of 1990/91 his elevation to a professional cricketer was confirmed when he was employed by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. His debut first-class game for Zimbabwe came against England A. In his second match he opened the innings and was rewarded with a fifty adding what would be the first of many century partnerships with his brother Andy.

At just 19, Flower was part of the 1990 ICC tournament where the winner would qualify for the World Cup. Zimbabwe would go on to win the competition with Grant Flower scoring heavily in the early games. Had they not won the competition it is likely that Zimbabwe would not have made their rise to Test cricket, at least not until much later. Despite a good tournament, Grant Flower wasn't selected for the 1992 World Cup.

Test career

Flower batting for Essex against Cambridge UCCE, April 2005

After the World Cup Zimbabwe were promoted to Test status and Flower was unanimously selected to play against the Indians for the Inaugural Test match. Cambridge University Cricket Club is a First-class cricket team On a flat pitch, he opened the batting for his country and dominated in a 100 run opening stand. He would go on to score 82, falling short of a century on Test debut. Zimbabwe again met the Indians this time on their home turf and again fell just short of a maiden Test century when he fell for 96.

Pakistan toured Zimbabwe in 1995 and in the 1st Test Flower finally scored his maiden Test century. Not content, he went on to register double hundred. He hit only 12 boundaries and faced 523 balls as Zimbabwe scored a massive 4/544 declared. His innings would help Zimbabwe to win their first ever Test match as they won by a convincing Innings and 64 Runs. He would continue to haunt the Pakistani side, scoring his second Test century at Sheikhupura Stadium in Pakistan.

In 1997 Flower became the first Zimbabwean to score a century in both innings of a Test match. Playing against New Zealand in Harare, he scored 104 and 151. A year later he scored his 5th Test century, an innings of 156 not out at Queens Sports Club against Pakistan. He would suffer a form slump after that innings, not scoring a 50 for 33 innings including 6 ducks. On 25 November 2000 he ended his slump with a fine 106 against India and would go on to score 4 50's in his next 6 innings. Events 1034 - Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots dies Donnchad, the 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar.

One Day International career

Flower with Essex team-mate Will Jefferson

By the end of his ODI career, Flower had taken more wickets than any other Zimbabwean bowler except Heath Streak. William Ingleby Jefferson (born October 25, 1979) is a professional Cricketer who played for Essex County Cricket Club until 2006 and for Heath Hilton Streak (born March 16, 1974 in Bulawayo) is a Zimbabwean Cricketer He made his Test debut in Zimbabwe's tour of His ODI statistics make better reading than his Test statistics. He would score 6 ODI tons and had it not been for the nervous nineties may have had many more. Nervous Nineties is a commonly used term in Cricket. When a Batsman has scored 90 runs, then he or she would feel little nervous to convert it into 9 times he was either unbeaten or dismissed in the 90's. One of his most memorable centuries would come in the final of a one-day triangular tournament in Bangladesh. Playing against Kenya he smashed an 82 ball century and finished with 140, just 2 short of Dave Houghton's national record. David Laud Houghton (born on 23 June 1957 in Bulawayo) is a former Zimbabwean Test Cricketer He captained Zimbabwe

Retirement

In 2004 he announced his retirement from international cricket. This was due largely to the dispute between the rebels and the Zimbabwean Cricket Union. He signed a contract with Essex as a Kolpak player where he would play alongside his brother Andy. Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English domestic Cricket structure representing the historic county of The Kolpak ruling is a European Court of Justice ruling handed down on May 8, 2003 in favour of Maros Kolpak, a Slovak handball There was some grumbling amongst Essex supporters at his signing, but this appeared to die down after his first season, when he topped the Essex 2005 List-A batting averages and was third in the number of wickets taken. Tables Championship totesport League Twenty20 Group Stage (South Match details April Their

References

• Cricinfo page on Grant Flower