The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE have had their schedule at the International Cricket Council Under-19 Cricket World Cup in West Indies changed, which will see the Zimbabwean lads open their campaign at the tournament on Saturday against Papua New Guinea.
Initially, Zimbabwe, captained by Emmanuel Bawa were scheduled to face Afghanistan in their opening match on Sunday but the ICC has since rearranged the fixtures to accommodate the Afghans who could not travel to the West Indies in time for the start of the tournament.
Zimbabwe are in Group C together with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea at the biennial youth event that is set to run from 14 January to February 5.
After successfully obtaining the necessary visas for travel, Afghanistan will arrive in the West Indies and undergo their required quarantine period.
To ensure all fixtures could be completed, Zimbabwe’s group matches, all to be played in Trinidad and Tobago, have been rescheduled as follows:
15 January – Zimbabwe v Papua New Guinea – Queens Park Oval
17 January – Pakistan v Zimbabwe – Diego Martin Sporting Complex
22 January – Afghanistan v Zimbabwe – Diego Martin Sporting Complex
ICC head of events, Chris Tetley said, “We are delighted that the Afghanistan squad have received the necessary visas and will be able to travel to participate in the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022.
“We have reworked the fixtures for group C to ensure that all matches can take place within the allocated timeframe and would like to thank the participating Members for their flexibility in finding a solution.”
Zimbabwe geared up for the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup with matches against Canada and Bangladesh. The Prosper Utseya coached lads won the match against Canada by two runs on the Duckworth/Lewis before they went down by 156 runs to Bangladesh, again on the Duckworth/Lewis method. – @Mdawini_29
