adminEddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE suffered another major setback after key bowler Kyle Jarvis was ruled out of the remainder of the T20I Triangular series with a broken thumb.
The Chevrons are expected to play Australia in their second game of the campaign today at Harare Sports Club and have since replaced the injured Jarvis with Donald Tiripano.
Jarvis pulled out of the Chevron’s opening game against Pakistan following a fielding mishap in the 14th over of the innings after their captain Hamilton Masakadza had won the toss and sent the tourists in to bat first.
The 29-year-old seamer was taken to hospital for scans, which confirmed the worst of fears for the hosts, who are already missing some of their senior players like Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams, Graeme Cremer and Sikandar Raza.
Jarvis is being treated in Harare and it could not be ascertained by yesterday if he would make it in time for the One Day International Series against Pakistan, which will run from July 13-22 at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
Zimbabwe Cricket spokesperson Darlington Majonga yesterday confirmed that Tiripano has been drafted in but he faces competition for a place in the team today from veteran Chris Mpofu who has waiting in the wings for such an opportunity.
Zimbabwe lost their opening game to Pakistan by 74 runs and they desperately need a win to keep their campaign alive.
But they would need to find answers against the Baggy Greens who arrived for this tour a wounded lion in the back of a disappointing nine-game losing streak.
The Australians and their new coach Justin Langer need to put behind them a difficult run of poor results.
They are also eyeing to reclaim the number one spot on the ICC T20I rankings from Pakistan and made their intentions clear when they made light work of Pakistan in their opening match yesterday after romping to a nine-wicket win with just over half the allotted overs bowled.
Australia will be looking forward to continue from where they left off yesterday with towering fast bowler Billy Stanlake, who recorded astonishing match bowling figures of 4/8 from his four overs, the man to watch again.
Online Reporter