The Southern Rocks is one of five Zimbabwean cricket franchises. They are a first-class cricket team, based in the Masvingo and Matabeleland South area. They play their home matches at Masvingo Sports Club in Masvingo. The team initially ceased to play after the 2013–14 season. In their 47 first-class matches they won 3, lost 27, and drew 17. However, in December 2020, Zimbabwe Cricket confirmed they would be one of the teams playing in the 2020–21 Logan Cup Southern Rocks won their first Logan Cup trophy in the same 2020–21 season.
Brian Lara had a shock second coming when he played for the Southern Rocks in the Stanbic Bank 20 Series and scored 65 top-scoring for his team on Twenty20 debut. After 99 runs from 3 innings, he left citing commitments elsewhere.
Masvingo, known as Fort Victoria during the colonial period, is a city in southeastern Zimbabwe and the capital of Masvingo Province. The city lies close to Great Zimbabwe, the national monument from which the country takes its name and close to Lake Mutirikwi, its recreational park, the Kyle dam and the Kyle National Reserve that is home to a range of animal species. It is mostly populated by the Karanga people who form the biggest branch of the various Shona tribes in Zimbabwe.
Coat of arms
Image: Masvingo at dusk
A stamp of colonial Southern Rhodesia used in Fort Victoria.
Fort Victoria in 1952.