THE Zimbabwe national cricket team will tour Britain for the first time since 2003 when they visit Scotland for two one-day internationals (ODI) in June.
by KEVIN MAPASURE
The two matches, to be played at The Grange in Edinburgh, will take place on June 15 and 17.
“This is brilliant for Cricket Scotland to be able to host a home series against a full member nation,” Scotland head coach Grant Bradburn said on the Cricket Scotland website yesterday.
“This will be the first full member ODI series that I have been involved in outside of a World Cup. The players will be desperate to match their skills against Zimbabwe on home soil.”
Zimbabwe Cricket board chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani said Heath Streak’s team would play Scotland and were likely to also pass through the Netherlands for some practice matches before they fly out to Sri Lanka for a Test and limited-overs series.
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“The tour is good for us ahead of the Sri Lanka tour, our players will get some quality game time,” Mukuhlani said yesterday. “On the other hand, there is a possibility of the 2019 World Cup qualifiers being played in Scotland so our experience there may be important. It’s a tour that benefits both Zimbabwe and Scotland and we are excited to have it. After that the boys will be going to Sri Lanka.” Zimbabwe will tour Sri Lanka for two Tests and three ODIs in July.
The main focus for Zimbabwe is qualification for the 2019 World Cup and with Bangladesh, who are on position seven in the ODI rankings, almost set to get automatic qualification to the global showcase, the qualifiers could be hosted elsewhere.
Zimbabwe would prefer that the qualifiers are hosted anywhere but the sub-continent where they generally struggle on slow wickets.
The first eight ranked nations get an automatic qualification to the 2019 World Cup, while the bottom three will have to fight it out with associate sides for two berths. West Indies, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland are ranked number nine, 10, 11 and 12 respectively and all face the possibility of having to go through the qualifiers. Against Scotland, Zimbabwe will be looking to avoid defeat as what happened when they lost their five-match ODI series against Afghanistan with a 3-2 scoreline on home soil.