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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE will square off against Netherlands in three One Day International cricket encounters at Harare Sports Club later this month.

The three matches, will take place on March 21, 23 and 25, with the fixtures part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League that is serving as the main route for direct qualification for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India. The 13-team league competition will see the top eight sides, including India as the hosts, earn direct qualification, while the remaining five, along with five Associate sides, will play in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 in Zimbabwe from which two other teams will go through to the global showcase.

Both teams are out of contention for direct qualification to the World Cup, however, Zimbabwe white ball captain, Craig Ervine believes the series remains significant to them.

“I think the tour is very important for a couple of reasons. One being it’s a chance to look at some options ahead of the ICC Men’s World Cup Qualifier on home soil and what sort of team our selectors are looking at.

“Two, it’s an opportunity to keep the momentum going which has brought the crowds back to Harare Sports Club and which we want to carry through to the qualifiers. What we want to see again is the support we had during the 2018 qualifiers and we can only get that support by continuously winning games,” said Ervine.

The Chevrons’ last international assignment was a Test series against the West Indies which was played at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo where Zimbabwe lost the two match series 1-0 after drawing the first encounter and suffering an innings and four runs defeat in the second and final match.

Meanwhile, English county side, Glamorgan edged Zimbabwe’s Northerns team by three wickets in a final day thriller at Old Hararians yesterday.

Craig Ervines

Batting first, Northerns posted 266 runs all out in 90.2 overs and went on to bowl their opponents for 214 runs in 62 overs to have a lead going into the second innings of the match. The Zimbabwean side went on to post 105 in their second stanza to set up a target of 158 runs, which the visistors chased with three wickets to spare, finishing on 161/7 in 45.4 overs.

After the completion of the three-day matches, six T20 matches set for March 6, 9 and 10 at Harare Sports Club are on the cards and four 50-over matches penciled in for March 12 and 14 will then wrap up the tour by Glamorgan and Durham to Zimbabwe. — @brandon_malvin