Pakistan confirm Zim tour

-fixing scandal to become the first team to beat Australia at the ICC Cricket World Cup in 35 matches spread over 12 years, have confirmed that they will tour Zimbabwe for a one-off Test in August.
The 1992 world champions play West Indies in the first quarter-finals of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup in Dhaka, Bangladesh, today.
Waqar Younis and his men have completed a remarkable transformation, from a side whose soul had been battered by the spot-fixing scandal that erupted during their ill-fated tour of England last year, into a competitive team with an outside chance of winning the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were implicated in the scandal during the tour of England and remain suspended from playing cricket while they are also scheduled to stand trial in a British court, given that the alleged crimes happened on English soil, in May.
The trio deny the charges.
Led by skipper Shahid Afridi, the resurgent Umar Gul – who has been menacing with the new ball -, left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman and a battery of young batsmen led by Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq, Pakistan pinned the Aussies to their lowest World Cup score since 1992.
Pakistan’s victory over the defending champions fired them to the top of Group A and did not only bring back a measure of respectability to their profile, after the turmoil of the tour of England, but put them into prime position to challenge for and win this World Cup.
Yesterday Pakistan announced that they will tour Zimbabwe for a one-off Test and three One-Day Internationals in August.
“We will play a Test match and probably three one-day Internationals in Harare and Bulawayo in August this year,” a Pakistan Cricket Board official said in a report widely distributed throughout the media covering this World Cup.
“We are not aware whether Zimbabwe will first play in Bangladesh or their Test against us will be their first since September 2005.”
Zimbabwe’s cricketers, who flew out of India on Monday and are expected to arrive home today, are scheduled to return to the Test arena this year after a five year absence following the country’s voluntary withdrawal from that format of the game to revamp its domestic structures and rebuilt its team. Zimbabwe won two matches at this World Cup by comprehensively beating the two Associate nations in their pool, Canada and Kenya, but came terribly short against the Test playing nations – Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand.
Coach Alan Butcher revealed, in his final media conference here, that his team would now go back home and prepare for a return to Test cricket.
“Our entry into Test cricket, that’s happening in August. We have Bangladesh, Pakistan and then New Zealand coming through to Zimbabwe to play probably a one-off Test and some one day games and that probably would be a massive thing for our development,” said Butcher.
“The only place to play Test cricket is actually by doing that, there is no other place that can prepare you for that. No doubt you might be wondering if we are going to be up for the challenge and the answer to that, honestly, is ‘no’.”
Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura is also bracing for a Test return saying the longer format will definitely help his team.
“The next three months are going to be very important for us. We are all excited about Test cricket and I know we’ll like to improve ourselves and we have to put in the hard work,” said Chigumbura.
“Now we know where we are and we know what we need to do before our first game.”