daniel chigunwe
Brandon Moyo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
BEN Curran is set to make his debut for the Chevrons in the first ODI battle against Afghanistan at Harare Sports Club today.
The match is scheduled to start at 9.30am. The weather, though, could play a big factor in this battle.
Zimbabwe will be hoping to dust themselves up as they are coming from a 2-1 series defeat in the T20Is.
The Chevrons made three changes to the team that played against Pakistan in Bulawayo last month.
There were maiden call ups for Curran and Under-19 fast bowler Newman Nyamhuri.
The team will also welcome back pace bowler Victor Nyauchi.
The trio replaces Faraz Akram, Brandon Mavuta and Clive Madande, who is recovering from a dislocated shoulder.
Zimbabwe will be hoping to secure their first One Day International (ODI) series win over Afghanistan when the two sides meet in a three-match series that gets underway at Harare Sports Club today. The Chevrons and Afghanistan have faced off in seven bilateral ODI series dating back to 2014 with the latter winning six of those battles while one ended as a draw. Zimbabwe and Afghanistan first played a one-day bilateral series in Bulawayo in 2014.
The series ended 2-2.
Their next meeting was also in Bulawayo, the following year, and Afghanistan won 3-2.The Asian side would go on to secure another 3-2 series win when they hosted Zimbabwe in the United Arab Emirates in 2016.
The following year, Afghanistan once again toured Zimbabwe for a five-match series which they won 3-2.
Between July 2014 and June 2022, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan have played 28 ODIs against each other with the Asian side enjoying a better win record.
Afghanistan have won 18 of those matches while the Chevrons have only tasted victory on 10 occasions.Zimbabwe’s last win was in 2018 during the World Cup Qualifiers.
The Chevrons have hosted Afghanistan at Harare Sports Club eight times and have only won twce with their last victory coming in 2017.
The other two matches are penciled in for Thursday and Saturday.
ZIMBABWE ODI SQUAD:
Craig Ervine (captain), Brian Bennett, Ben Curran, Joylord Gumbie, Trevor Gwandu, Tinotenda Maposa, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tashinga Musekiwa, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Newman Nyamhuri, Victor Nyauchi, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams
AFGHANISTAN ODI SQUAD:
Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Abdul Malik, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, AM Ghazanfar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.
Online Reporter