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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE cricket have scaled down their preparations for the tour of Afghanistan following the announcement of new coronavirus lockdown measures by the Government.
The Chevrons had been training in small groups, for the past month, while awaiting government approval to host Afghanistan for a T20I series scheduled between July and August.
Zimbabwe Cricket were given the greenlight to conduct training sessions last month, after the sport was placed under the low-risk category, by authorities.
The players have been working out in their various provinces under the guidance of national coaches.
However, with the continued surge in Covid-19 infections, the Government was forced to enforce tighter lockdown measures this week.
This has also affected cricket.
ZC responded by breaking the training camps on Tuesday with players now required to train individually, from home, using a special programme designed by the coaches.
And, despite the rising statistics, Zimbabwe Cricket acting managing director, Givemore Makoni, told The Herald they are still confident the Afghanistan tour will be able to go ahead.
“We wrote to the Sports Commission about our proposals to play games,’’ he said.
“Remember, they gave us the greenlight to train since cricket is one of those low-risk sports.
“So, we have applied to play games, and host internationals, but we are still waiting for their response.
“Our guys have been training at various centres. They focused on fitness and they have been working in the nets.
“Last week, they conducted fitness tests and about 90-95 percent passed, which was very encouraging.
“But, we have scaled down a little bit, due to the recent lockdown measures announced by the government.”
The Chevrons underwent Covid-19 tests before they started training and authorities have been fumigating and sanitising their training and working areas to prevent the spread of the virus.
Makoni said they have been religiously following the Covid-19 health protocols.
“We are good to go. In fact, everyone is raring to go. Once we get the greenlight to play international games, then we will finalise the tour with Afghanistan.
“We sent them the tour proposal and they were quite happy with it.
“We have been following strict health guidelines to make sure we have a safe return to cricket.
“There are guidelines from the International Cricket Council and we also have our own guidelines that we have drafted to suit our conditions. We always fight to make sure that we are always on point, with regards to health and safety.
“Cricket is a game that respects social distance, the players have been tested, they have been given sanitisers and the training grounds have been fumigated.’’
The players have been training in small zonal groups in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Kadoma, Kwekwe and Masvingo.
Batting coach Stuart Matsikenyeri was working with the Harare-based players, alongside fitness trainer Walter Karimanzira and bowling coach Douglas Hondo.
National fielding coach Shepherd Makunura has been holding fort in Masvingo while Farai Chari was in charge of Mutare-based players.
National women’s team coach, Adam Chifo, was taking care of business in Midlands while former Chevrons fast bowler Njabulo Ncube was working with the Bulawayo contingent at Queens Sports Club.
Online Reporter