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Harare Bureau
LEG-SPINNER Tafadzwa Kamungozi made a surprise return to the Zimbabwe national team colours when he was named in the final 15-member Twenty20 squad to represent the nation at the World Cup in Bangladesh next month.Zimbabwe were placed in Group C in the preliminary stages where they will meet associate nations Ireland, Afghanistan and the Netherlands.
Selectors made the surprise inclusions of Southern Rocks right arm leg spinner Kamungozi and Mountaineers’ batting all-rounder Timycen Maruma after their three-day selection process at Harare Sports Club from a pool of 36 prospective players.
Tinotenda Mutombodzi and Chamunorwa Chibhabha were the unlikely exclusions from the final squad and there is a matching concept in replacing them with Maruma and Kamungozi as both pairs play similar roles.
Tendai Chatara stepped up to the opportunity and he comes in place of veteran Tuskers right-arm fast bowler Chris Mpofu.
Ireland pose a potent threat to Zimbabwe in the qualification stages while Netherlands and The United Arab Emirates are the minors in the group.
According to an official press release from the ICC, Ireland has retained 13 players from the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2013. They only added Andrew Poynter and Craig Young, replacing John Mooney and the retired veteran bowler Trent Johnston.
Mashonaland Eagled pinch hitter Elton Chigumbura however said Zimbabwe should be on the strong watch against complacency as they have met with some of the lower tier teams and had a feel of their strong desire to gain prominence against member nations.
“All we have to do in the qualification stages is to play the very best of our style of cricket and to ensure that we leave no room for errors against all teams, whether we know about their players or not.
“We have met Ireland before and they have always wanted to prove that they are better than us so we have to be on guard against them and play our best cricket all the time,” said Chigumbura.
ZC also said in a statement the league programme which was disrupted by player boycotts will go ahead starting this weekend. The Pro50 matches will resume tomorrow while the four-day Logan Cup will take off on Monday after almost three months of inactivity.
Zimbabwe squad:
Brendan Taylor (captain), Hamilton Masakadza, Prosper Utseya, Elton Chigumbura, Sean Williams, Malcolm Waller, Vusi Sibanda, Sikander Raza, Brian Vitori, Tendai Chatara, Natsai M’shangwe, Shingirai Masakadza, Timycen Maruma, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Tinashe Panyangara
Online Reporter