THE West Indies Cricket Board yesterday confirmed the schedule for Zimbabwe’s month-long tour of the Caribbean islands between February and March next year.
By our Sports Reporter
The cricket-starved Zimbabwe side will play two Test matches, three one-day internationals (ODI) and two Twenty20 (T20) games against the World T20 champions – during a tour from February 20 to March 20.
The matches will be played in Grenada, Antigua, Barbados and Dominica.
The month-long tour will be Zimbabwe’s first competitive assignment since the World T20 tournament in Sri Lanka and their first away tour since the tour of New Zealand in January.
The tour will get underway with a three-match ODI series which will see international cricket return to the Grenada National Stadium for the first time since 2009.
The three-match ODI series will take place from February 22-26. Antigua will play host to the two T20 matches on consecutive days, March 2-3.
The reigning ICC World T20 champions have only met Zimbabwe once before in T20 matches.
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In 2010 Zimbabwe pulled off a shock
26-run win in a low-scoring match on a turning track in Port-of-Spain and the hosts will be eager for revenge.
The much-awaited Test series will be the first between the two sides since 2003.
The West Indies and Zimbabwe have only met in six Tests in all between 2000 and 2003 and their latest clashes will be hosted in Barbados and Dominica as the final two matches of the tour. The West Indies tour will come as a breath of fresh air for the Alan Butcher-coached Zimbabwe side which has recently been starved of competitive cricket.
This year Zimbabwe played in only one competitive tour in New Zealand in January to add to the unofficial T20 tri-series between South Africa and Bangladesh in June and the World T20 in Sri Lanka, where they played only two matches.
In a direct contrast, the West Indies, during that same period hosted India, Australia and New Zealand for full tours before touring England. Currently the West Indies team is on a tour of Bangladesh until December and just before hosting Zimbabwe, will tour Australia for five ODIs and a T20 match. Zimbabwe on the other hand will go into the tour without having played any competitive cricket and they do not have any commitments until they head for the Caribbean.
Tour schedule: February 22 – First ODI at Grenada National Stadium, Grenada; February 24 – Second ODI at Grenada National Stadium, Grenada; February 26 – Third ODI at Grenada National Stadium, Grenada; March 2 – First T20 at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua; March 3 – Second T20 at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua; March 12 – First Test at Kensington Oval, Barbados; March 20 – Second Test at Windsor Park, Dominica
