WATCH: Teams gear up for World Cup Qualifiers warm-up games

ALL is in place for today’s warm up matches that will take place in Bulawayo with four teams putting on final touches to their 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers preparations.

The two matches will be played at Queens Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC).

Yesterday morning, Sri Lanka and Ireland held their practice sessions while the United States of America (USA) and Netherlands held theirs in the afternoon.

At Queens Sports Club, Sri Lanka will be up against Netherlands while at BAC, Ireland will face USA in the first round of the warm up matches.

A Chronicle Sport crew which visited the two facilities managed to catch up with coaches of Sri Lanka and Ireland and also, the Lankan skipper, Dasun Shanka.

Ireland coach, Henrich Malan said having been here in summer and coming back now in winter, they will be looking at making full use of the warm up matches and the week they have before the tournament commences as they try to acclimatise to conditions which have changed with seasons.

“There’s a challenge a little bit, it’s a different time of the year and we were here in summer and now its winter so it will probably be a little bit dryer but I guess we have a week ahead with a couple of warm up games as well, hopefully we can try and get as much information around the conditions, how they evolve and change throughout the day as well,” said Malan.

The Irish team came in with a number of experienced players who have been around the world, including Peter Joseph Moor and Malan said they hope to get the senior guys leading from the front.

He added that after adaptation to conditions, he hopes to see some good individual performances that will put the team in better positions.

His counterpart in the Sri Lankan camp, Chris Silverwood said the previous series against Afghanistan helped them in their preparations and are hoping to continue on the same path.

Sri Lanka won the three-match 2-1. He added that they will treat all teams they play against with respect.

“I feel they (other teams) want to achieve the same so from our point of view we have to give everyone the respect that they deserve and make sure we are on top of our game.

We had a great series against Afghanistan which really helped us, if we can bring that form into this tournament then we will give ourselves the best chance. I’m expecting some very good cricket,” said Silverwood.

Sri Lanka, alongside Ireland are in Group B of the Qualifiers while their opponents today, Netherlands and the USA are in Group A. The Lankan skipper, Shanka who has been to Zimbabwe before shared similar sentiments with his coach, stating that preparations have been good and are ready for what’s coming next.

“The preparations have been done, we are coming out of a good series against Afghanistan so the boys are confident. I think we are ready to play a good tournament,” he said.

On Thursday, Ireland will face Netherlands at Queens Sports Club while Sri Lanka will be up against USA at BAC. Meanwhile, in the capital, the Chevrons will face Oman at Takashinga Cricket Club while West Indies will be up against Scotland at Harare Sports Club.

In Harare there will be another warm up match today at Old Hararians between Nepal and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The tournament gets underway on 18 June and Group A is made up of Netherlands, USA, Nepal, West Indies and the hosts, Zimbabwe and their matches will be played in Harare while Group B will have Sri Lanka, UAE, Ireland, Scotland and Oman, with their matches taking place in Bulawayo.

The top three teams from each group will progress to the Super Six stage where each team will play three matches against the teams they did not meet in the group stage.

All points won in the group stages will be carried over to the Super Six stage, apart from those gained against the bottom two from each group. The finalists will both book their ticket to the World Cup India in October. – @brandon_malvin