Ryan Burl is a name not many may know but he is a young Zimbabwean cricketer who recently took to twitter for a cry of help for better shoes in a move which moved a billion cricket fans. Yes you read it right Zimbabwe a nation which was on the cusp of a breakthrough as far as cricket was concerned with some amazing players coming through. The start of the millennium saw Zimbabwe cricket make the right noises as they were putting a team which could mix with the best of them and play a huge part in the future of International cricket, one of the brightest young talents was a fresh faced 19 year old who made his ODI debut in the year 2000 versus New Zealand and he went by the name Travis Friend.
A prospective talent who shone early –
Travis Friend was a hard hitting and free stroking right handed batsman who could bat anywhere in the batting order and could also bowl right arm fast medium as he had the ability to crank up the speed and put the batsman under pressure. Friend played international cricket for only five years but he made had a slight impact in those few years. In the 13 tests he played for Zimbabwe he scored 447 runs and picked 25 wickets with one five wicket haul with a career best of 5/ 31. He played 51 ODI games scoring 548 runs with a best of 91 and an average of mere 16 with the ball he picked 37 wickets as these figures don’t tell the exact story of the talent he had.
A sad end to a promisingly long career-
The political embargo that Zimbabwe cricket saw some of the big players either decide to shift base to another country. Travis Friend too shifted to UK and played in the county circuit for a while before hanging up his boots from active playing career as he decided to take the skies and become a pilot. The gain of the airlines was cricket’s loss as one of the most promising talents hung up his boots even before it could take shape and go on for long.