About Travis Friend
Travis John Friend (born 7 January 1981) is a former Zimbabwean international cricketer and commercial pilot. During his short international career, he made sporadic appearances for Zimbabwe, having played only 13 test matches and 51 ODI matches. His international career was cut short due to his fitness issues, being vulnerable as he was to intermittent injuries and he could not quite cement a permanent spot in the playing XI while his involvement in contract dispute with Zimbabwe Cricket at an early age of 24 did not help the cause either. He was certainly well noticed for his ability to bowl at a fierce pace but often had the vulnerability of losing the line and length which also cost him a permanent place in the national team despite his immense talent. He created huge hype in Zimbabwean cricketing fraternity for being a tall, well built, pace bowling all-rounder and batted as a top-order batter at domestic level but he failed to live up to the expectations. Capable of bowling genuine pace, he was often wayward and lacked the necessary control to be a success on the international stage. In addition to his ability to bowl with pace and hostility, he could hold a bat, often being used in the role of a pinch hitter for his team, very much in the mould of Andy Blignaut. He even built up the reputation as potentially Zimbabwe's own Jacques Kallis in the making very early in his career and he was deemed as the second fastest bowler in Zimbabwe at that time only behind Henry Olonga. He made his international debut at the age of 19 when he made his ODI debut against New Zealand in September 2000 at Queens Sports Club, Harare. His father Ian Friend was also a first-class cricketer who played for Rhodesia B in two first-class matches. He attended Goldridge Primary School where his father Ian Friend served as his first cricket coach.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.