Zimbabwe Cricket seeks to fill gap in fixtures

Zimbabwe Cricket has approached Afghanistan, Ireland and Scotland in an attempt to fill the gap in its fixtures list over the next six months. Zimbabwe last played during a tri-series with Sri Lanka and West Indies in November last year and they do not have anything else scheduled until a trip to Sri Lanka in June.

With the qualifying tournament for the 2019 World Cup little more than a year away, Zimbabwe have concluded that taking on the leading Associate nations may be the best way to give players significant game time. The domestic schedule in Zimbabwe continues to be disrupted by disputes over player payments, which puts another obstacle in the way of Heath Streak, who was appointed head coach in October with a goal of World Cup qualification.

Tatenda Taibu, the former Zimbabwe captain and team-mate of Streak who took over as convener of selectors last year, said they had made it a priority to arrange fixtures on the grounds that “some cricket is better than no cricket”. Zimbabwe have featured at every World Cup since 1983 but are currently 11th in the ICC ODI rankings, above only Ireland. The top eight teams will qualify automatically for the 2019 tournament in England, with two further places to be contested in the ICC Qualifier.

Afghanistan, who have beaten Zimbabwe in four of the five ODI and T20 series the two countries have played, are expected to accept an invitation to tour in February. The ACB has already confirmed a visit by the Afghanistan A team to play five one-day games at the end of January.

“When Streak and I realised there wasn’t another game until six months from now, we had to meet up and come up with a plan,” Taibu said. “We have since approached Afghanistan and they are sending their A side this month, and the month after they are sending their national team. We have started talking to Ireland and Scotland, at least to be playing – …

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