Brian Murphy has been appointed as Zimbabwe's new captain following the resignation of Heath Streak. Streak, who had stepped down after the first one-day international against England earlier in the month only to be persuaded to reverse his decision, told the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) that the strains of leading the side had had a detrimental effect on his form and that he wanted to take time to concentrate on improving his own game.

There may be more to his decision than a loss of form, however. Streak has recently made public his unhappiness with the running of Zimbabwean cricket, in particular the implementation of an enforced quota system which he believed weakened the side.

Legspinner Murphy, 24, has only been appointed on a tour-by-tour basis; he will lead the side in the Standard Bank International Trophy which starts in Sharjah on Friday.

The ZCU have not appointed a vice-captain.

Record Collection

• Brian Murphy, who is 25 on December 1, will be the first specialist legspinner to captain his country since Shane Warne, who led Australia in 11 one-day internationals between 1997-98 and 1998-99, winning 10 of them.

• The last specialist legspinner to captain in a Test was Somachandra de Silva, who took charge of Sri Lanka in two Tests in New Zealand in 1982-83, after the tour captain (Duleep Mendis) and vice-captain (Roy Dias) were both injured.

• Intikhab Alam, who led Pakistan in 17 Tests between 1969-70 and 1976-77, was the last specialist legspinner to be his country's fulltime captain. One of Intikhab's successors, Mushtaq Mohammad, was also a handy legspinner but batting was his stronger suit.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd