adminMELBOURNE. – As winter makes way for spring Down Under, bedlam surrounds Australia’s hugely popular football codes.
The AFL and NRL seasons are at the pointy end and everything else is basically shunted into the backdrop.
Even cricket, the country’s national sport with Australian rules football and rugby league split up amongst the states and territories, is almost invisible this time of year bar an Ashes away series, a scandal or threat of David Warner ditching the maligned Big Bash League for more lucrative pastures.
Thus Zimbabwe’s first bilateral series in Australia since 2003-04 – seriously, that’s not a typo – has been something of an afterthought amongst mainstream sports fans.
The three ODIs kick off on August 28 and played entirely in Townsville, the coastal city in north eastern Queensland, with matches starting at 9.40am local time.
This series might be relatively obscure but it means a lot to smaller Full Member nation Zimbabwe, who have for so long struggled for opportunities to play power countries Australia, India and England.
Underlining the difficulty, it was third time lucky for this series amid the ODI Super League competition, which will be strangely canned after this inaugural edition.
Australia were meant to host Zimbabwe for three ODIs in August 2020 but the series was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and attempts to reschedule last year were stymied by Australia’s then border closures and strict quarantine requirements.
There were fears the series might be scrapped entirely, given Australia’s suspect track of record of playing smaller countries, before eventually being ironed out resulting in a whirlwind week-long tour for Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s officials had hoped a one-off Test and/or three T20Is could be included in the tour but those attempts were rebuffed by Cricket Australia, who cited its “very busy” schedule.
Very much the underdog in these negotiations, Zimbabwe’s chiefs had to concede although they are relishing the scheduling of consecutive ODI series featuring powerhouses having just hosted three ODIs against mighty India, a guaranteed money spinner of a contest.
But it doesn’t mean Zimbabwe will suddenly start regularly competing against the so-called ‘Big Three’ in the coming years.
In the recently released Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the 2023-27 cycle, Zimbabwe are not scheduled to face Australia, India or England in bilateral series.
Zimbabwe’s administrators, however, are still hopeful fixtures can be arranged during the cycle. “It’s a work in progress. We are positive we can get fixtures sorted but there are no clear windows identified yet,” Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani told me. – Forbes
Online Reporter