Zimbabwe vs Ireland: The only Test of the Ireland tour of Zimbabwe kicked off on February 06 in Bulawayo, where Johnathan Campbell, son of the legendary Zimbabwe cricketer Alistair Campbell, debuted in the Test and was asked to lead the side as regular captain Craig Ervine opted out of the match due to a daily emergency. With this, Campbell becomes the only Zimbabwean cricketer to lead the side on debut after Dave Houghton, who captained the team on his debut against India in 1992 in Harare.
This is also one of the rarest occasions, as Johnathan takes over the captaincy; the 27-year-old and his father, Alistair Campbell, become the fourth father-son duo to lead the Test team. Here are the other three father-son duos who achieved this feat: Frank Mann & George Mann (England), Colin Cowdrey & Chris Cowdrey (New Zealand), and Lala Amarnath & Mohinder Amarnath (India).
Jonathan Campbell is a promising all-arounder who played 45 List A matches, scoring 1372 runs and taking 30 wickets. The 27-year-old also played 9 T20Is for Zimbabwe and scored 123 with an average of 15.37.
His father, Alistair Campbell, is a legendary Zimbabwe opener who played a total of 248 matches for the country and scored 8043 runs, including 9 centuries and 48 half-centuries. He captained the side in 1996 for the first time. Under his captaincy, Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan in 1998-99 in a Test series.
About Zimbabwe vs Ireland Test
This is the only test of the Ireland tour of Zimbabwe 2025 playing at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo. Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie won the toss and elected to bat first. Check out both teams playing XI’s below:
Zimbabwe (Playing XI): Ben Curran, Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Nick Welch, Brian Bennett, Johnathan Campbell (c), Wessly Madhevere, Nyasha Mayavo (w), Newman Nyamhuri, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani, Trevor Gwandu
Ireland (Playing XI): Peter Moor, Andrew Balbirnie (c), Curtis Campher, Harry Tector, Paul Stirling, Lorcan Tucker (w), Andy McBrine, Mark A
