Stats: Five-wicket hauls by captains in ODIs
Graeme Cremer also became the first Zimbabwe player to take 5-wicket haul in ODIs on three different occasions
After a close loss in their maiden ODI against Scotland, Zimbabwe came back strong in the 2nd match of the series. After Scotland decided to bat first Graeme Cremer & Co. restricted them to just 169. The Scottish team looked strong and set for a big total pretty much like their previous ODI but the Zimbabwe captain led their bowling charge from the front took a 5-wicket haul and bundled them to a low total.
Sean Williams struck in the 6th over to dismiss Matthew Cross but fifties from Kyle Coetzer and Calum Macleod helped them to continue scoring at a healthy rate. Then began a brilliant spell of bowling by Cremer, who got Coetzer stumped for 61 at the score of 106. Williams struck again to send back Macleod for 58 in 28th over when the score read 135. Cremer didn’t allow the Scottish batsmen to settle down as he bagged 4 wickets in the next 3 overs to reduce them to 150/7. The home side couldn’t add much as they were bowled out for 169 in 42 overs; adding just 34 runs for the last 8 wickets.
The 5-wicket haul by Cremer was only the 20th in ODI cricket by a player who was leading his team. He is the 14th captain to take a 5-wicket haul in this format as Greg Chappell, Viv Richards, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis (3 times) and Shahid Afridi have taken multiple 5-wicket hauls.
Cremer, in fact, is the first from Zimbabwe to take a 5-fer while leading the side in ODIs as 3 players have taken 6 four-wicket hauls while leading Zimbabwe in this format prior to Cremer. He also became the first Zimbabwe player to take 5-wicket haul in ODIs on three different occasions as he picked 5-fers earlier in 2009 vs Kenya and vs Afghanistan in 2015. Four other players have picked two 5-fers for Zimbabwe in this format.
List of 5-wicket hauls in ODI cricket by captains:
| Player | Team | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Inns No | Opposition | Ground | Date |
| GS Chappell | Australia | 11 | 5 | 20 | 5 | 1 | England | Birmingham | 4-Jun-1977 |
| GS Chappell | Australia | 9.5 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 1 | India | Sydney | 8-Jan-1981 |
| N Kapil Dev | India | 12 | 2 | 43 | 5 | 1 | Australia | Nottingham | 13-Jun-1983 |
| IVA Richards | West Indies | 10 | 0 | 41 | 5 | 2 | New Zealand | Dunedin | 18-Mar-1987 |
| IVA Richards | West Indies | 9.4 | 0 | 41 | 6 | 2 | India | Delhi | 23-Oct-1989 |
| Wasim Akram | Pakistan | 6.1 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 2 | South Africa | East London | 15-Feb-1993 |
| Wasim Akram | Pakistan | 7 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 1 | Zimbabwe | Karachi | 24-Dec-1993 |
| AY Karim | Kenya | 10 | 2 | 33 | 5 | 2 | Bangladesh | Nairobi (Gym) | 10-Oct-1997 |
| ST Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 9 | 0 | 28 | 5 | 1 | Australia | Galle | 22-Aug-1999 |
| SC Ganguly | India | 10 | 1 | 34 | 5 | 1 | Zimbabwe | Kanpur | 11-Dec-2000 |
| Waqar Younis | Pakistan | 10 | 0 | 36 | 7 | 1 | England | Leeds | 17-Jun-2001 |
| Waqar Younis | Pakistan | 8 | 0 | 59 | 6 | 2 | Australia | Nottingham | 19-Jun-2001 |
| SM Pollock | South Africa | 9.5 | 1 | 37 | 5 | 1 | India | Centurion | 10-Oct-2001 |
| Waqar Younis | Pakistan | 10 | 0 | 38 | 5 | 1 | South Africa | Tangier | 12-Aug-2002 |
| DL Vettori | New Zealand | 6 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 1 | Bangladesh | Queenstown | 31-Dec-2007 |
| Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | 8 | 3 | 16 | 5 | 2 | Kenya | Hambantota | 23-Feb-2011 |
| Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | 10 | 0 | 23 | 5 | 2 | Canada | Colombo (RPS) | 3-Mar-2011 |
| DJ Bravo | West Indies | 10 | 1 | 43 | 6 | 1 | Zimbabwe | St George’s | 24-Feb-2013 |
| Rohan Mustafa | UAE | 8.2 | 0 | 25 | 5 | 2 | P.N.G. | Abu Dhabi | 4-Apr-2017 |
| AG Cremer | Zimbabwe | 10 | 1 | 29 | 5 | 1 | Scotland | Edinburgh | 17-Jun-2017 |
(Stats as on June 17th, 2017)
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