After almost a lifetime, Zimbabwe cricket, courtesy of the World Cup qualifying super League (that must be said), will tour Australia for a 3 match ODI if all goes well. This would be a first since at least 2003 that the two sides have met in an ODI series. The Chevrons will look to take on the Aussies and try and pull a rabbit out of the hat and try to win even a single match in the Land Down Under. It has to be said Australia has the best bowling attack even with their 4th set of bowling attacking options meaning if we want to be honest with ourselves, these could be extremely short One day matches if Zimbabwe were to bat first in all of them. But, it’s not an impossible feat to try and get at least 10 points in Oz. We just might 😅.

The Logan Cup just concluded and I have to say it was one of the most competitive I’ve seen in recent years. The youngsters were staring and stating their claim in the longer format. TADIWANASHE MARUMANI being one that caught the eye with his long Innings throughout the campaign. The ZC board has requested a one off test match with the Aussies along with the ODI series…..

According to Fox news and I quote…

“Cricket Australia will reportedly reject a plan to host Zimbabwe in a Test match this winter, potentially in Darwin, prioritising an ODI series.

Zimbabwe was supposed to play three ODIs in Australia in August 2020, but the matches were postponed due to the pandemic.

That has forced the Aussies into a tight schedule with home white-ball matches against New Zealand, the West Indies and Zimbabwe all postponed. The men’s team will also tour Pakistan this March and April, as well as Sri Lanka during June and July.”

As it stands it seems the Chevrons are the only team free. If I was in charge I would have tried to fit in a tour of even the Netherlands or UAE at least to get the boys busy. But I’m not in charge and I don’t know much about how these tours go. Back to the Aussies case, a test match in my opinion would give the Chevrons a proper shock, I would consider it a dream come true to be defeated in a test match by a team consisting of Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, Dave Warner, it would be an honour since the only test we play these days are with Pakistan or Bangladesh and if we pull all our strings a trip to SA or Sri Lanka and that’s about it. I wouldn’t raise my hopes thinking maybe Australia might sneak in a test with Zimbabwe on their busy schedule. For reasons even I can list.

For 1 they are in the test championship and a test with Zimbabwe would almost be useless. For 2 their schedule is hectic and a test with Zimbabwe would add unnecessary fatigue potentially. And for 3 it simply isn’t a viable option at this stage.

“We told them we want a one-off Test to be part of the tour,” ZC chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani said.

“We don’t play many Tests, so if there is an opportunity to play against Australia it would be good for our team.

I understand the move to try and sneak in a test match because heaven knows we need anything we can get now as a cricket playing nation.

Zimbabwe may need to pull up their socks if they are going to qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. It has to be the primary goal for now because missing out again could spell a disturbing downward spiral for the Chevrons hope for the future. If it was up to me again in terms of priority I would want ZC to prioritize winning as many ODI matches as possible and get that ticket to India then try and get as many Tests as possible after that. The grassroots level as far as cricket is concerned is almost non-existent in Zimbabwe and a lot has to be done to ensure there is always an influx of talent coming through and for every tour there must 4 or 5 players left out that would genuinely improve the team if 4 or 5 additional players were required, if you get what I mean.

Lastly, I hope the boys get to mainland Australia and have fun on the pitch. Win or lose the match, playing the best on the continent is always a win.

-Ms04