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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe national women’s Under-19 cricket team, which arrived in South Africa on Monday for the International Cricket Council Under-19 Women’s Cricket World Cup has begun its final preparations for the tournament.

With the inaugural global showpiece scheduled for January 14-29, the Young Lady Chevrons started their preparations by playing a practice match against Indonesia yesterday, a game that was played behind closed doors.
Their next practice match, which will also be behind closed doors, will be on later today against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while at the same time in a different venue, Rwanda will be up against Indonesia.

Kelis Ndhlovu

The last scheduled practice match will be a clash against Ireland on Friday as they aim to leave a good impression in their first-ever World Cup appearance. Under the stewardship of experienced, Kelis Ndhlovu, Zimbabwe is also expected to play ICC-sanctioned matches before their campaign begins. The schedule is, however, yet to be confirmed.

The Young Lady Chevrons are in Group B of the World Cup alongside England, Pakistan and Rwanda. All Group B matches will be played in Potchefstroom. In their first match of the tournament, Zimbabwe will face England at the JB Marks Oval on January 15 before they take on fellow Africans Rwanda two days later at the North West University Oval. The last group encounter for Zimbabwe is against Pakistan on January 19 at the North West University Oval.

The ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 has 16 teams that are divided into four groups of four, with the top three in each group progressing to the Super Six stage which will have two pools.

Before travelling to South Africa for the World Cup, last month the team went to Mumbai, India where they were touring, playing against three different academies from the Asian nation.

Zimbabwe won six of their nine matches against Omtex ICWC Cricket Institute, Palghar Dahanu Taluka Sports Association (PDTSA), and MCA Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana.

From the 16 teams that made the World Cup, Zimbabwe is one of the 12 that got automatic qualification alongside Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and the United States of America. – @brandon_malvin