admin
Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe national cricket team selectors yesterday announced a strong squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 with wicket-keeper Joylord Gumbie the only uncapped player.
Batsman Craig Ervine will lead the side which also has big guns such as Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, Ryan Burl and Tendai Chatara who are all expected to play leading roles in the 10-team qualifying contest.
Raza has just returned from a series of T20 franchise cricket tournaments around the globe, with his most recent participation being at the lucrative Indian Premier League where he starred for Punjab Kings.
The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 will be played across four venues in Harare and Bulawayo from June 18 to July 9, and will see the teams battling it out for the only two spots available for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 to be held in India later in the year.
Wicketkeeper-batter Gumbie, who has been enjoying a purple patch in the run-up to the tournament, is the only uncapped player named in the final 15-man side.
Gumbie showed great potential during the recent visit by the Pakistan A side, scoring hundreds in both the four-day game and the one-dayers that concluded last weekend in Harare. The hosts will be counting on the pace duo of Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava too, with all-rounders Burl and Wessly Madhevere bolstering the team.
Spinner Wellington Masakadza, wicketkeeper-batter Clive Madande and opening batter Innocent Kaia will also be looking to play influential roles in the campaign.
Milton Shumba and Tony Munyonga are the notable omissions.
The Chevrons will be looking to atone for the disappointment they suffered in the 2018 edition of the Qualifier which resulted in them missing the World Cup, that was played the following year in England and Wales, for the first time since they first got involved with the tournament in 1983.
Zimbabwe lost the decisive match to minnows United Arab Emirates via the Duckworth-Lewis method after rain interruptions at Harare Sports Club.
This year they will face the West Indies, the Netherlands, Nepal and the USA in Group A . The Chevrons will play Nepal in the opening match of the tournament at Harare Sports Club on June 18, before entertaining the Netherlands at the same venue two days later.
On June 24, Zimbabwe and the West Indies will lock horns at Harare Sports Club in what should be the biggest Group A fixture.
Zimbabwe’s last group fixture will be against the USA at the same venue on June 26.
The 10 teams taking part in the tournament are split into two groups, with Sri Lanka, Ireland, Scotland, Oman and the United Arab Emirates making up Group B.
The top three 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 progress to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier is the culmination of four years of hard-fought competition and brings together the bottom five teams from the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League, three automatic qualifiers from the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League Two and two teams who gained entry from the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff.
Zimbabwe squad: Ryan Burl, Tendai Chatara, Craig Ervine, Bradley Evans, Joylord Gumbie, Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams.
Online Reporter