The Sunday News
Derbyshire and Durham will become the first major English teams to travel to Zimbabwe since 2004 next month, with both sides accepting invitations from Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) to go to the country for pre-season tours.
England have not played an international fixture against Zimbabwe since 2007, and ZC’s director of cricket Hamilton Masakadza claimed that the importance of the counties’ pre-season visits “cannot be overemphasised”.
Derbyshire, whose head coach Dave Houghton played 22 Tests and 63 ODIs for Zimbabwe between 1983 and 1997, will play two T20s, two one-day games and two three-day games against a Zimbabwe Select XI, while Durham will play two three-day fixtures against a ZC Chairman’s XI.
“Hopefully this tour will open the door for further English county tours in future, which may help Zimbabwe cricket get back on its feet,” Houghton said. “We will be facing some strong opposition during the tour, which will provide ideal preparation for the 2020 season.
“We also want to give the players some life experiences because as cricketers, we can become solely focused on the game sometimes and it’s important make the most of these opportunities.”
“The magnitude and importance of their visit cannot be overemphasised,” he said. “While our players will learn big lessons and gain invaluable experience from playing against such top opposition, we believe this marks the beginning of a new chapter that will hopefully see more English county teams touring Zimbabwe as that will go a long way in preparing our players for the rigours of high-level and international cricket.” — Cricinfo
