• What a limp and lifeless team Zimbabwe is turning out to be.

Sify: Oct 11: It's indeed a sorry state of affairs for a cricketing nation that made a memorable international debut by upsetting Kim Hughes' Australians at the 1983 World Cup and for whom Athanasios John Traicos donned both whites and coloured clothing.

Cricket’s unlikeliest off-spinner was born to Greek parents in the land of the pyramids, Egypt. And he went on to set a record that might stand even longer than those famous monuments.

Traicos remains the cricketer who has spent the most time in international wilderness between two consecutive Tests. The finger spinner made his debut for Zimbabwe exactly 22 years and 222 days after he had played his last Test for South Africa’s famed 1970 squad.

His figures in his return Test speak volumes about the man 14 years after they were first jotted down. At the ripe old age of 45 and against some of the finest players of spin, Mohammad Azharuddin’s Indians, Traicos claimed a career-best 5-86.

Now, if only the current Zimbabwean team could summon the spirit and verve of their record-setting off-spinner.