Rhodesia (region) was first used to refer to the region by white settlers in the 1890s who informally named their new home after Cecil Rhodes, the Company's founder and managing director. It was used in newspapers from 1891 and was made official by the Company in 1895. To confuse matters, Southern Rhodesia, which became a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom in 1923, referred to itself simply as "Rhodesia" from 1964 to 1979, and in 1965 unilaterally declared independence under that name. It thereafter briefly renamed itself "Zimbabwe Rhodesia" in 1979. The usage of the term Rhodesia to refer to the historical
Rhodesia cricket team David Pithey, Jackie du Preez, Joe Partridge, Godfrey Lawrence and Colin Bland. These were the only Rhodesian born cricketers to represent South Africa, together with Shropshire-born Percy Mansell and the South Africans Paul Winslow, Mike Procter, Peter Carlstein and Egyptian-born John Traicos but the team never won the Currie Cup. The team played in 1979–80 as "Zimbabwe-Rhodesia" and left the competition for good at the close of that season, after Zimbabwe officially became independent. Rhodesian players were eligible to represent South Africa in Test cricket until the country became Zimbabwe. Rhodesian venues included: Rhodesia cricket team The Rhodesia cricket team