Chevrons eye T20 qualifiers

AFTER a disappointing end to their 2023 Men’s World Cup Qualifiers, it was not the end of the road for Zimbabwe as they will take part in another qualification tournament before the end of the year.

The Chevrons are set to compete in the Africa Regional Final qualification tournament which is set for Namibia in November. Zimbabwe will have a chance of booking their place in the biggest T20 World Cup which will feature 20 teams.

A total of seven African teams will compete for the two available slots to the global showpiece. The Chevrons and the tournament hosts, Namibia did not participate in the Sub-Regional Qualifiers which five of their opponents played in.

Only two teams from the African Qualification tournament will proceed to the global showpiece which will be co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America (USA) in June next year.

Besides Zimbabwe and the hosts, Namibia, the other teams that will take part in the qualification tournament are Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The tournament will run from November 20 to 1 December.

Zimbabwe missed out on direct qualification to the World Cup after failing to make the top eight in the previous edition of the tournament which was held in Australia last year. A total of 12 teams have already secured their spots and they are the hosts, West Indies and USA, England, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Netherlands, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Bangladesh and Netherlands qualified automatically as the best-ranked teams in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20I Team Rankings, as of 14 November 2022.

The 20 teams in the World Cup will be divided into four groups of five, from which the top two teams in each group advance to the Super Eight round.

The upcoming qualification tournament will be the perfect opportunity for the Chevrons to put past them the failure to qualify for the One Day International (ODI) World Cup which they will be missing for the second time in a row.

Last year, Zimbabwe ended a six-year wait to take part in a major international event after qualifying for the T20 World Cup and going on to reach the Super 12 stage for the first time ever.

Playing and winning the upcoming qualifiers will be a big confidence booster to the Chevrons camp. – @brandon_malvin