Zimbabwe national cricket team still hopes to tour Pakistan Darlington Majonga

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Cricket (ZC) is working on salvaging its tour of Pakistan that had been scheduled for October.

Talks of a tour to the subcontinent come after the cancellation of a proposed incoming tour by Afghanistan due to additional measures put in place by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Government, through the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), notified ZC of its decision not to green light the series against Afghanistan that was set for last month, running into this month.

ZC had been hopeful the series would go ahead since government had given low risk sports permission to return to action and cricket was among sports codes that had been given the green light to resume training during the lockdown.

The tour by Afghanistan would have seen the Chevrons playing five Twenty20 Internationals.

Darlington Majonga, ZC communications manager, said they are hoping to save their international season with a tour to Pakistan, subject to government’s approval.

“As you are aware, ZC had applied for a waiver to proceed with the series in a strictly controlled environment, but with Zimbabwe experiencing a rise in the number of coronavirus cases, the government advised through the Sports and Recreation Commission that the country was not ready as yet to host visiting teams.

‘However, all hope is not lost as ZC will seek clearance from government for the team to travel to Pakistan in October. Pakistan has been having tours and conversations for a tour are in progress, but that will all be determined by government’s approval,” said Majonga.

It hasn’t been a good period for ZC, which had a bright start to the year, with a home Test series against Sri Lanka followed by a full tour of Bangladesh.

However, the scheduled home series against Ireland for one Test and five T20Is in March-April was postponed due to Covid-19.

Three ODIs against Australia, India and Netherlands were also cancelled.

These fixtures would have seen Zimbabwe having a busy schedule compared to previous calendar years after failing to qualify for the T20 World Cup and are not part of the World Test Championship. @ZililoR

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