Online Reporter
RAIN washed out the first day of the four-day warm-up match between Zimbabwe and South Africa in Arundel, England, yesterday.
After a lengthy delay, the rains just kept on coming and the battle between the two neighbours, which is being played behind closed doors, will now only be a three-day game – that is if the weather permits.
Zimbabwe Cricket posted a video of the Chevrons leaving Arundel on their social media platforms.
“Leaving the ground . . . No play possible as unrelenting weather steals Day One of the warm-up match between Zimbabwe and South Africa at Arundel,” said ZC.
However, South Africa coach Shukri Conrad said his men have had a good start to their final preparations for the World Test Championship final against Australia despite the opening day of their only warm-up match being called off.
South Africa and Zimbabwe will meet in a two-match Test series at Queens Sports. The first Test is scheduled for June 28-July 2, with the second following from July 6-July 10.
Having last played a Test in January, the majority of the South African team had focused on limited overs cricket this year, giving them only a single four-day game against Zimbabwe in Arundel to fine-tune ahead of the clash against Australia in the global final.
And while the first day of the match was abandoned yesterday due to rain, Conrad was pleased the Proteas had already spent quality time together as a group after arriving in the UK at the weekend.
“We’ve had two really good days where batters have spent extensive time in the nets, and I’m not too worried about coming from different formats – guys adapt very quickly – so I’m comfortable with where we’re at,” Conrad said.
“It’s not ideal (the weather disruption) but you come to expect this, and this is part of what could potentially be thrown up, so if we have another day of rain tomorrow we’ve just got to make it work as best we can.”
Conrad did hope, however, that the weather would clear up over the next few days in order to give the Proteas players some time in the middle ahead of the Test final against Australia starting in London on 11 June. “Hopefully we get something tomorrow and we can go a little bit later, so the batters can spend some time at the wicket and the bowlers can get some more miles in the legs,” he said.
“That’s pretty much what this four-day game was going to be about anyway.”
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe Women’s High Performance Centre got off to a winning start, beating Nigeria Women by six runs on the opening day of the 11th edition of the Kwibuka Women’s T20 Tournament in Kigali, Rwanda, yesterday. – Sports Reporter/The Citizen
