Vusumuzi DubeMehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
REGIS Chakabva, the Zimbabwe captain is excited by the Chevrons visit to Australia for a bilateral cricket series for the first time in 18 years.
Zimbabwe last headed to the land Down Under for a bilateral tour in January 2004 for the VB series which also involved India. While Zimbabwe, led by Heath Streak at that time finished bottom in that triangular series, they played some magnificent cricket and came close in some of those matches like the one they lost by just three runs to India in Adelaide and the 13-run defeat to Australia at the same venue.
Chakabva was only 16 when Zimbabwean last visited the Oceania. He is leading the Zimbabwean team in the absence of skipper Craig Ervine who has been ruled out by injury.
After some hours of travelling, which saw the team depart on Tuesday via South Africa, Zimbabwe on Thursday finally made it to Townsville, a coastal city in northeastern Queensland where they will play the host nation in three ODIs starting on 28 August, 31 August and 3 September.
“Very long trip but very excited to be here. For all of us really it’s something special to be touring Australia, facing Australia after such a long time that Zim has been here so very excited, can’t wait to face the Australian side,’’ said Chakabva.
The three matches are part of the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup Super League, the qualification pathway for the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India. Zimbabwe just suffered a 3-0 loss to India at home where they failed to pick up even a single point. The Zimbabweans are second from bottom in the 13-team log with 35 points, only better than Netherlands who anchor the log. Zimbabwe have picked up just three wins from the 18 matches they have played, with 14 losses and one no result.
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