Charles Coventry

Charles Coventry has made just one ton in International cricket. Zimbabwe lost that match, against Bangladesh. Yet, this hundred holds significant value to many cricket enthusiasts. Coventry, shot into the limelight in cricketing circles after that knock. His 194* against Bangladesh in Bulawayo in 2009 remained the joint highest score by any player in ODIs until a certain Sachin Tendulkar got to 200.

That remains Coventry's biggest claim to fame to date. He is yet to produce anything close to that knock but remains a very aggressive batsman. He is also one of the few batsmen who wear their glasses even while batting. Making his debut at the age of 15, Coventry was also Zimbabwe's youngest first class cricketer.

He made his ODI debut as far as back as 2003 but struggled to keep his place in the team. He played two Tests against India in 2005 before Zimbabwe's self imposed ban but did not manage to do anything noteworthy in those two opportunities. In 2006 he was sent back from the tour of West Indies dues to disciplinary reasons and was not part of the team for more than two years.

He made an ODI comeback in 2009 against Bangladesh and his record breaking ton came in the same series.

The spectacled batsman held the world record of the joint highest individual score in ODIs with Saeed Anwar until Sachin Tendulkar's 200 in February 2010. Bumped up to the top of the order in the 2011 World Cup, Charles Coventry failed miserably. His form continued to yo-yo, as a result of which he was dropped from the team. His last ODI was against New Zealand in the World Cup, where he was out without troubling the scorers. Coventry continues to battle hard in domestic cricket in hopes of earning a recall.

By Ganesh Chandrasekaran