Chronicle Editor
BrandonMoyo, [email protected]
THE USA cricket team jetted into the country yesterday, becoming the first nation to arrive in Zimbabwe for the men’s World Cup qualifiers that start on June 18.
The team touched down at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport in Bulawayo yesterday afternoon and will be looking at getting a feel of the Zimbabwean conditions before getting on with official business.
USA are making their second visit to Zimbabwe having last year competed in the T20 World Cup qualifiers which were held in Bulawayo.
The Americans are set to get the ball rolling with their first training session this afternoon at the Old Mutual Academy, formerly known as the Heath Streak Academy. They will have another training session tomorrow, before taking on Tuskers in a preparatory match set for Thursday at the Old Mutual Academy.
On June 13, USA will play their first official warm up match against Ireland at Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC).
Team manager, Kerk Higgins told Chronicle Sport that they chose to come earlier than other countries so that they familiarise themselves with local conditions.
More than half of the USA team took part in last year’s event and Higgins is confident they will play well.
“Most of the teams are going elsewhere to have a camp before the actual tournament but we chose to come directly to Zimbabwe to get familiar with the climate here, that’s our reason for coming early.
Eighty to 90 percent of the guys that were here last year are here again and we are confident. We did well in the play off before this (Qualifiers) so we are pretty confident that we can be one of the two teams that will make it to the World Cup,” said Higgins.
He added that the team has been putting in some individual work prior to coming over to Zimbabwe. USA is in Group A, alongside West Indies, Nepal, Netherlands and the hosts, Zimbabwe. Their group matches will be played in Harare.
Group B, which consists of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sri Lanka, Ireland, Oman and Scotland will play their group games in Bulawayo.
The other eight nations are expected to arrive in Zimbabwe next week, on June 11.
In Harare, games will be played at Harare Sports Club and Takashinga Cricket Club while in Bulawayo, BAC and Queens Sports Club will be the host venues.
The top three teams from each group will progress to the Super Six stage where each team will play three matches against the sides they did not meet in the group stage.
All points won in the groups will be carried over to the Super Six stage, apart from those gained against the bottom two from each group.
The finalists will both book their ticket to the World Cup India in October.
The qualifiers are a culmination of four years of hard-fought competition and brings together the bottom five teams from World Cup Super League, three automatic qualifiers from the World Cup League Two and two teams who gained entry from the World Cup Qualifier Playoff. — @brandon_malvin
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