10 things you didn't know about the hero of Zimbabwe's win against Sri Lanka Solomon Mire
Zimbabwe’s Solomon Mire has created waves after his fiery century against Sri Lanka today. After coming out to chase a mammoth target of 317, the right-handed opening batsman scored 112 off 96 deliveries, with fourteen boundaries. What helped was that Lasith Malinga dropped him in the 29th over of the innings.
Mire and Sean Williams stitched a 161-run partnership, which helped Zimbabwe script the biggest ever ODI chase for any international team in Sri Lanka. Nic Pothos, who was appointed as the interim coach of Sri Lanka, following the resignation of Graham Ford, saw his coaching tenure start on a bad note.
As for Mire, he has always been touted as one of the hardest hitters produced by Zimbabwe. He made is international debut in 2014 against Bangladesh. Since then, he has played 17 ODIs and 11 T20Is for his national side. He is also a right-arm medium fast bowler.
Here are ten facts about him you might not have known:
#1 His hundred against Sri Lanka is his first in international cricket. It also is the fastest hundred against Sri Lanka in ODI cricket.
#2 He participated in the 2013-14 season of the Australian Big Bash League, where he played for the Melbourne Renegades. He has also played Premier Cricket for Carlton and Essendon. He felt that his career had been stagnant for a long time and thus decided to hone his talent in Australia.
#3 He used bent-branches cut from trees as substitutes cricket bats in his childhood and it kept him hooked to the game in the long-run. The economic hardships that Zimbabwe faced in his early years inspired him to dedicate himself to cricket so that he could get admission into private schools.
#4 He was the captain of the Zimbabwe team for the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2008 that was held in Malaysia. However, his team had a bad campaign, where they lost all their group matches and ended the tournament at the bottom of the table. Some big cricketing names like Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson were also a part of that World Cup.
#5 He started playing cricket in junior school, early in 2000. He went to a small public school called Cheonjae, where he developed his love for the game.
#6 Andy Flower and Henry Olonga were his role models and their success at the international level motivated him to concentrate on the sport.
#7 He has 6 wickets in ODI cricket with an average of 57.66 and an economy of 6.01 runs per over.
#8 He has three ODI fifties to go with his hundred, one of which came against Netherlands in a crucial game earlier this year. He scored a splendid 82 to go along with Craig Ervine’s 77 and steered his team to victory on DLS method.
#9 He is a follower of tennis and football, and is a big Roger Federer fan.
The legend that is Roger #Wimbledon
— Solomon Mire (@kingsoly21) July 6, 2016
#10 He got a surprising call to Zimbabwe’s squad for World Cup 2015.
"A year or two ago if you said I'd be playing in the World Cup I'd have said, 'Nah, no chance'," Mire said about the same.