The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
IN response to measures announced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the wake of the coronavirus that has been declared a national disaster, Zimbabwe Cricket have with immediate effect suspended all forms of cricket in the country.
In a statement, ZC said the well-being of all those involved in the sport is of importance and therefore they believe that lessening physical contact can play a part in containing the spread of the virus that is devastating the entire world.
“As the health and well-being of our players, staff, supporters and the entire cricket community are our highest priority at ZC, we remain confident that these measures, which include minimising physical contact with other people, will assist to contain the spread of this novel virus that is ravaging the world,” read the statement from ZC.
Seeing that this is a unique situation, ZC are looking to rearrange the suspended domestic fixtures.
“This is an unprecedented situation, but ZC’s aim is to reschedule the postponed domestic competition fixtures for them to be played as soon as it is safe to do so. In this fast-moving environment, further updates will be provided when appropriate.”
English county cricket teams, Derbyshire and Durham decided to cut short their tour of Zimbabwe, with the two teams returning to their country on Monday.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe Rugby Union have also suspended all rugby activities for 60 days. Sifiso Made, the ZRU chief executive officer said they were similarly in touch with World Rugby as well as Rugby Africa in relation to the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.
“The ZRU board has today resolved that with immediate effect all rugby events scheduled for a period of 60 days are hereby postponed indefinitely. The ZRU is monitoring events related to this pandemic through our international federation (World Rugby) and our regional regulators (Rugby Africa),’’ Made said.
Made urged the rugby community to exercise caution by maintaining very high levels of personal hygiene and called upon the Zimbabwean society to join together in fighting the coronavirus.
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