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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
THE presence of Zimbabwean cricketer Eddie Byrom and explosive Welshman Kiran Carlson in the domestic Logan Cup competition has inspired United Kingdom-based Glamorgan County Cricket Club to tour the country for the first time next month as part of their pre-season preparations.
Glamorgan are expected to spend two weeks in the Southern African nation and play red ball and limited overs cricket games against local sides, according to a pre-season schedule announced yesterday.
The Welsh County Cricket Club confirmed they will arrive in Zimbabwe on March 1 and will set up base until March 17 as part of their preparations for the new season.
Another County Cricket side Durham, who last toured Zimbabwe in 2020, are also expected back in the country during the same period and the two teams are set to play against each other in Harare.
“Glamorgan Cricket has announced its 2023 pre-season schedule which will see the squad tour Zimbabwe in March (1st-17th).
“The players and coaches will arrive in Harare on Wednesday, 1st March.
“There they will train and play pre-season matches against local opposition and Durham Cricket in a mixture of white-ball and multi-day cricket.
“On their return to Wales, David Lloyd and his men will complete their pre-season preparation with three-day matches against local rivals Somerset at Taunton and the Cardiff UCCE students at Sophia Gardens,” said the club statement.
Director of cricket, Mark Wallace, said he had heard a lot of positive stuff about Zimbabwe from former Zimbabwe Under-17 player Byrom and Welsh batting all-rounder Carlson from their experiences with domestic cricket in the country in recent months. The pair is part of the Mid-West Rhinos squad for this season. Byrom also holds a Welsh passport, although he was born in Zimbabwe and represented the nation at the Under-17 level.
Wallace and his colleagues at Glamorgan concluded Zimbabwe was the perfect destination for their preparations. They have previously had pre-season camps in South Africa, as well as La Manga in Spain, but this will be their first time in Zimbabwe.
“We are going to get away for pre-season, which will see us go to Zimbabwe.
“The squad hasn’t been abroad for pre-season for quite a few years now so we cannot wait for the experience.
“Then we will be back for a pre-season fixture against a strong Somerset side before we play the University and then head into the season.
“Zimbabwe offers a great chance for us to hone our outdoor skills before the beginning of the season, and the group is really looking forward to going away.
“We have heard great things from Kiran Carlson and Eddie Byrom, who have been playing domestic cricket out there all winter, and we can’t wait to join up with them and play some competitive cricket before our opening Championship fixture against Gloucestershire,” said Wallace.
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales.
They are scheduled to begin their division two campaign at home to their west country rivals on April 6.
In a sign of the growing relations between Zimbabwe and the UK, the Southern African nation hosted Derbyshire and Durham in 2020 but the two County Cricket Clubs had to cut short their historic tour following the introduction of global travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic mid-way through their tour.
By the time the tour was called off, the Derbyshire squad also managed to visit the majestic Victoria Falls before they were hosted by the British Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Melanie Robinson.
The tour was engineered by Zimbabwe head coach Dave Houghton, who was then working for the side as Head of Cricket.
Before that, the last English county to tour Zimbabwe was Worcestershire back March-April 1997.
Online Reporter