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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
Exactly two months since their last outing at the ICC T20 World Cup finals in Australia, the Zimbabwe national cricket team captain Craig Ervine says they cannot wait to get back to action as they prepare to host Ireland in a three-match T20I series this week.
The series is set to kick-off at Harare Sports Club on Thursday. Then there is going to be a double header set for Saturday and Sunday, to be followed by three more One Day Internationals.
Zimbabwe and Ireland have featured in some close encounters in the past but the Chevrons carry a psychological edge as they won the last meeting by 31 runs at the recent ICC T20 World Cup.
In fact, Zimbabwe played some of their best cricket in recent years in the second half of 2022, leading to the World Cup. The Chevrons have been a changed outfit since the arrival of Dave Houghton last June and Ervine wants the form to carry on in 2023.
“I think we want to continue with the momentum that we have worked extremely hard to get on our side over the last five-six months,” he told The Herald.
“We really like to start off with that sort of momentum in 2023. Ireland are a tough side and we know that. But we are playing at home and we do have an advantage and hopefully we can put in some good performances and win the T20I and the ODI series.”
Interestingly, Ireland have won more T20Is in the meetings between the two sides. Zimbabwe and Ireland have faced each other in nine T20I matches, with the Irish claiming five wins compared to Zimbabwe’s four.
The teams met for the first time at the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh and the Irish won by three wickets. Zimbabwe then toured Ireland in 2019 and the T20I series ended with each team winning a game apiece in the two-match contest.
But the Chevrons suffered a 2-3 defeat the last time they toured the European country in 2021. Their last encounter was at the last T20 World Cup in Australia where Zimbabwe managed to hit back at their bogey side.
It is also interesting that this will be the first time the teams are playing a T20I against each other in Zimbabwe.
But both teams will be missing some key players. Cricket Ireland have confirmed at least three key players will miss the first part of the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe as they have been given the green light to participate in T20 cricket franchise tournaments around the globe.
Veteran batsman Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker have been granted approval to miss the T20I series and play in the new International League T20 in UAE, while Josh Little will miss the T20I series to play in the SA20 which begins today in South Africa and will run until February 11. The players will join the rest of the squad in Zimbabwe for the one-day series.
Zimbabwe, on the other hand, will be without in-form all-rounder Sikandar Raza and Blessing Muzarabani.
Raza, who has been Zimbabwe’s main man in recent months, will be conspicuous by his absence after Zimbabwe Cricket granted him permission to participate in franchise cricket abroad. He is currently involved with the Bangladesh Premier League.
Muzarabani, on the other hand, is struggling with a quadriceps injury.
“I think, whenever you are missing two of your better players in Sikandar Raza and Blessing Muzarabani it’s obviously going to make an impact but at the same time we have to put those sorts of thoughts aside and work with the squad that we have.
“And I think that our squad is definitely strong enough to win both T20I and ODI series against Ireland,” said Ervine.
The good news for Zimbabwe, however, was that top order batsman Gary Ballance is now in line for his debut with Zimbabwe after switching allegiance from England recently.
The inclusion of Ballance was one of the four changes made to the 15-man side that represented Zimbabwe at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia in September-October.
The left-handed batter — who played 23 Tests and 16 one-day internationals for England between 2014 and 2017 — recently signed a two-year contract to play domestic and international cricket in and for the country of his birth following his release from county cricket side Yorkshire.
“We are all very excited to have Gary joining the family. I think everybody is looking forward to the experience and I guess that the knowledge that he will bring to the squad and to the change room will be priceless.
“He has played some high quality cricket in the past, so everybody is looking forward to his contributions and I am pretty sure that he will bring some stability to the batting side,” said Ervine.
All the T20I matches are scheduled to start at 1pm local time.
They will be followed by the three-match ODI series set for January 18, 21 and 23, also at Harare Sports Club. Tickets for the series are now on sale online at www.webtickets.co.za and will also be available at the venue gates on matchdays.
There will be free entry for pensioners and children in full school uniform.
Zimbabwe T20I squad:
Craig Ervine (captain), Gary Ballance, Ryan Burl, Tendai Chatara, Bradley Evans, Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tony Munyonga, Richard Ngarava, Victor Nyauchi, Sean Williams
Ireland T20I squad:
Andrew Balbirnie (captain), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Fionn Hand, Graham Hume, Tyrone Kane, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Ben White.
Ireland ODI squad:
Andrew Balbirnie (captain), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Graham Hume, Tyrone Kane, Josh Little, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker.
Online Reporter
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