admin
Senior Sports Reporter
LANKY fast bowler Christopher Mpofu is glad to be back in the national team after he was included in the squad preparing for a tour to Pakistan later on this month.
Mpofu was recalled into the national team following more than a year of being snubbed for international duty. He was rewarded for a brilliant display for his franchise Matabeleland Tuskers which saw him leading the wicket taking charts with 19 scalps in the Pro50 Championship last season.
He got into camp with the rest of the team on Wednesday and appears guaranteed of stepping onto the plane to Pakistan on 18 May for the tour which consists of two Twenty20 Internationals and three One-Day Internationals, all in Lahore.
“It feels like I am making my debut again, but it feels good though. Feels like the same as my first call up in 2004 but I am well aware of the challenges ahead,’’ said Mpofu.
The 29-year-old has been in international cricket wilderness since March 2013 when he picked up an injury during Zimbabwe’s tour West Indies. Despite his good form in the Pro50 Championship, Mpofu was omitted from Zimbabwe’s 15 men squad for this year’s International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
It is expected that with Zimbabwe’s star fast bowler Tendai Chatara out injured, Mpofu will lead the bowling attack with fellow Tuskers seamers Brian Vitori and Tawanda Mupariwa.
Top order batsman Chamunorwa Chibhabha and pace bowler Mupariwa have been recalled from abroad where they had taken up playing contracts during Zimbabwe’s off season.
A height gifted pace bowler who hits the deck hard, gets away swing, the Bulawayo based Mpofu made his international cricket debut against England in an ODI at Harare Sports Club in November 2004. He represented Zimbabwe at the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups.
Online Reporter