dyton mupawaenda
Brandon Moyo
AS the countdown begins for the Chevrons’ first international assignment of the year, Zimbabwe Cricket on New Year’s Day announced their two squads for the tour of Sri Lanka which gets underway on Saturday.
Zimbabwe will tour Sri Lanka for a six-match white-ball series and both the One Day International (ODI) and T20I squads have 15 players each. They are set to play three ODIs and as many T20Is and all matches will be played at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
There was a deserved maiden call up for the 33-year-old leg spinner Tapiwa Mufudza to the ODI squad following his consistency in racking up wickets in the domestic set-up and will come in handy in the Sub-Continent.
Mufudza will not be the only player in line for their ODI debut with Faraz Akram, who has only played T20Is, being named in the team which will be missing the services of veteran all-rounder Sean Williams who is yet to recover from an injury.
The ODI team got a boost of skipper, Craig Ervine who returns to international cricket after missing the series against Ireland in December due to injury and will bring in valuable experience alongside Sikandar Raza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani and Ryan Burl.
The batting quartet of Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Milton Shumba and Tony Munyonga were retained for the ODIs in Sri Lanka having also featured against Ireland.
However, there will be three changes to the squad for the T20I series, with Brian Bennett, Ainsley Ndlovu and Carl Mumba coming in to replace Kaitano, Mufudza and Akram.
Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka will first face off in three ODI matches scheduled for 6, 8 and 11 January before they meet in the T20I fixtures scheduled for 14, 16 and 18 January.
This will be Zimbabwe’s first bilateral visit to the island nation since January2022. In their last visit to Sri Lanka, they played three ODIs and the Lions won the series 2-1.
The Chevrons have shown good form against the Lions in recent years, including a stunning 3-2 ODI series win during their tour of Sri Lanka in 2017; however, the latter enjoys a good track record over the former.
Apart from bilateral cricket, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka last played together in white ball cricket in July in the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers where the Lankans prevailed after a dominant performance.
They convincingly won the match by nine wickets in front of a sold out Queens Sports Club.
Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka have played each other 61 times in ODIs and the latter enjoys a better win ratio. From those 61 matches, Sri Lanka has won 47 games whereas Zimbabwe has been victorious on 12 occasions. Two matches have had no results.
Sri Lanka will also be favourites going into the series as they have won 12 times at home while losing on three occasions only.
They enjoy a 77, 04 win percentage over the Chevrons. In T20s, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe have only faced each other three times and the Lankans have won all of the games thus enjoying a 100 percent winning ratio against the Chevrons in the shorter version of the game.
The series promises to be a great time for cricket enthusiasts, both in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
Zimbabwe, on the other hand, will be hoping to lift themselves after a string of disappointing results and get off their New Year to a good start. They failed to qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 after being unable to secure a top-two finish in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier.
ZIMBABWE’S ODI SQUAD FOR
SRI LANKA TOUR:
Craig Ervine (captain), Faraz Akram, Ryan Burl, Joylord Gumbie, Luke Jongwe, Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Clive Madande, Wellington Masakadza, Tapiwa Mufudza, Tony Munyonga, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba.
ZIMBABWE’S T20I SQUAD FOR
SRI LANKA TOUR:
Sikandar Raza(captain), Craig Ervine, Ainsley Ndlovu, Carl Mumba, Brian Bennett, Ryan Burl, Joylord Gumbie, Luke Jongwe, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Clive Madande, Wellington Masakadza, Tony Munyonga, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba.
Online Reporter