Born in Masvingo on July 29, 1970, and brought up Harare, John Rennie is a former cricketer of Zimbabwe. He later moved to Matabeleland for business purposes. Never selected for any of the national age-group teams, he is a prime example of sheer hard work and utmost dedication. It even took some years for him to become a regular in his school first team, but he gradually progressed and was able to make it to the national side through club cricket. A useful batsman and a good wicketkeeper, John Rennie was mainly selected for one- day matches which he always played with absolute enthusiasm and dedication.
Batting And Fielding Averages Of John Rennie
| Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s | Ct | |
| Tests | 4 | 6 | 1 | 62 | 22 | 12.4 | 228 | 27.19 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| ODIs | 44 | 27 | 12 | 201 | 27 | 13.4 | 391 | 51.4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 12 |
| First-class | 40 | 62 | 14 | 1045 | 67* | 21.77 | 0 | 6 | 10 | ||||
| List A | 66 | 46 | 18 | 389 | 33 | 13.89 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
Bowling Averages
| Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | |
| Tests | 4 | 8 | 724 | 293 | 3 | 2/22 | 2/57 | 97.66 | 2.42 | 241.3 | 0 | 0 |
| ODIs | 44 | 43 | 1965 | 1564 | 34 | 3/27 | 3/27 | 46 | 4.77 | 57.7 | 0 | 0 |
| First-class | 40 | 6463 | 3180 | 96 | 9/76 | 33.12 | 2.95 | 67.3 | 6 | |||
| List A | 66 | 2908 | 2296 | 52 | 3/27 | 3/27 | 44.15 | 4.73 | 55.9 | 0 | 0 |
John Rennie played cricket in four Test matches and 44 One Day Internationals. Although his bowling style is Right-arm medium-fast, he can swing the ball both ways, if the conditions assisted him, with an impressively slower ball, all of which contributed to his short and brief international career. His first debut match was at the Defence Housing Authority Stadium, Karachi, on December 1, 1993, against Pakistan. Although he was never really a genuine wicket-taker, he played and used whatever ability he had.
A British journalist called Alistair Campbell mentioned him as “the biggest trier the game has ever seen”. His last Test match was among the favorite of many as he played alongside his younger brother, Gavin, and also two other brother pairs who were the Flower and Strang brothers, against New Zealand at Harare in 1997.
His first ODI debut was at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, against South Africa in 1993. John Rennie will forever be remembered as the average cricketer but a tough competitor. He faded out of the game around the year 2002 due to business and family pressures. His very last ODI was against West Indies at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, in 2000. He will always as a prime example of Zimbabwean Cricketers; not that talented or flamboyant, but very hard working and strong, both mentally and physically.
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