Darlington Rutendo Matambanadzo (born 13 April 1976) is a former Zimbabwean

Cricket in Zimbabwe

Cricket is the most popular sport in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is currently a full member of the International Cricket Council .-History:Cricket was introduced to Rhodesia in the 19th century and the Rhodesian Cricket Union was formed in 1898. Rhodesia participated in the Currie Cup, the South African...

 first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

er who is the twin brother of Test cricket

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

er Everton Matambanadzo

Everton Matambanadzo

Everton Zvikomborero Matambanadzo, born in Salisbury , is a former Zimbabwean cricketer who played in 3 Tests and 7 ODIs from 1996 to 1999. His twin brother, Darlington, also played first-class cricket for Mashonaland....

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Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, Matambanadzo was considered, along with his younger twin Everton, a prospect while still at high school and started playing for Harare club side Old Hararians. Matambanadzo debuted for Zimbabwe U/19s in July 1993 and made a development tour to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 before making his first-class debut aged 17 years, 276 days on 14 January 1994 at Queens Sports Club

Queens Sports Club

Queens Sports Club is a multi-purpose stadium in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. It is used mostly for cricket matches. The stadium holds 13,000. The club is one of two homegrounds for the Matabeleland Cricket Team, which up until recently was captained by the Zimbabwean international opening pace bowler...

 for Mashonaland Under 24s against Matabeleland

Matabeleland cricket team

Matabeleland cricket team was a first-class cricket team representing the Matabeleland province in Zimbabwe. They competed in the Logan Cup from 1994 until the format was revamped in 2007....

, taking one wicket for 24 and none for 10 and remaining unbeaten on zero.

Matambanadzo took his best bowling figures of four wickets for 52 runs against Mashonaland Country Districts in September 1994 which led to selection against the touring Sri Lankan cricket side.

Matambanadzo's cricketing development was postponed as he entered the University of Zimbabwe

University of Zimbabwe

The University of Zimbabwe in Harare, is the oldest and largest university in Zimbabwe. It was founded through a special relationship with the University of London and it opened its doors to its first students in 1952. The university has ten faculties offering a wide variety of degree programmes...

, initially to study Accountancy

Accountancy

Accountancy is the process of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. The communication is generally in the form of financial statements that show in money terms the economic resources under the control of management; the art lies in...

 before switching to Economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

. Matambanadzo then found it difficult to regain his cricketing form and after struggling in domestic cricket, considered retiring from cricket to concentrate on his job as a financial consultant.

Matambanadzo began to develop his batting more and made his highest first-class score of 80 for Mashonaland against Manicaland but was still unable to break into the Zimbabwean side. He caused controversy in 2004 when he failed to play in a number of matches for Mashonaland for a month without an excuse. Matambanadzo played his final match in Zimbabwe, a List A match for Manicaland

Manicaland cricket team

The Manicaland cricket team was a first-class cricket team representing the Manicaland province in Zimbabwe. They competed in the Logan Cup from 1999 until the format was revamped after the 2004–05 season. The club played their home matches at the Mutare Sports Club.-First-class record:...

 against Midlands

Midlands cricket team

The Midlands cricket team was a first-class cricket team representing the Midlands province in Zimbabwe. They competed in the Logan Cup from 1999 until the competition was revamped after the 2004–05 season. The club played their home matches at the Kwekwe Sports Club.-First-class record:...

 at Alexandra Sports Club, Harare on 5 February 2006, scoring one and taking no wicket for seven from one over before moving to Blantyre, Malawi

Blantyre, Malawi

Blantyre or Mandala is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, the largest city with an estimated 732,518 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe...

to teach cricket and hockey in Saint Andrew's International High School between 2007 and 2008.