The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Cricket (ZC)’s 16-year wait to tour Australia might be prolonged due to restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Chevrons, who — according to the International Cricket Council (ICC) Future Tours Programme — are scheduled to visit Australia in June, last played Down Under in 2004.
They now have to wait even longer.
“That tour falls under the ODI Super League,’’ said ZC director of cricket Hamilton Masakadza.
“So we will have to wait on advice from the ICC on how they will want to proceed with the Super League structure,” he said.
Masakadza also spoke about their home tours scheduled between July and September, which include visits by Afghanistan, India and the Netherlands.
“There are still different country lockdowns to consider. For example, Afghanistan just extended theirs (to May 24).”
“So with regards to whether sport will be allowed to open, that depends on mandatory quarantine periods of inbound travellers.
“Secondly, a lot has to do with the travel restrictions.
“Right now a lot of the airlines that come into Zimbabwe are not operating, which presents another unique problem of whether people can actually come in or not.
“Some countries are not allowing international travel at all.”
Masakadza, however, said ZC were already taking measures to guarantee a safe environment once the restrictions were lifted.
Sport is still banned under Zimbabwe’s Level 2 lockdown.
“However, given all this, we will be ready to start as soon as all these things are not a factor.
“Initial plans have already been made, with the organisation purchasing disinfectants for the grounds, hand sanitisers, (and) masks for the people when we do resume.’’
Players, he added, have been doing fitness exercises in anticipation of a return to action.
“We are currently investigating what we can be allowed to do practice-wise with regards to nets and actual skills training, and also looking at the best ways to do this safely and according to social-distancing guidelines.”
Meanwhile, there was mixed reaction by franchise captains on the decision by ZC to void the 2019-20 season.
Tuskers skipper Brian Chari, whose team was leading the Pro 50 championship table, felt they should have still been honoured.
“I personally feel trophies should have been handed out to the teams which were on top.
“That Pro50 competition, I believe, was easy to judge. There is no way Midwest (Rhinos), with a game in hand, was going to catch up with Tuskers,” Chari said.
All teams had played five matches out of eight, except Rhinos, who were on four matches.
Tuskers led the table on 11 points, followed by Mountaineers (9), Eagles (7), Rhinos (2), while Rangers anchored the table with one point.
Eagles led the Logan Cup log table with 28 points, five ahead of defending champions Mountaineers, who had a game in hand.
Tuskers were third on 16 points, followed by Rhinos (12), while Rangers occupied the basement with four points.
Rhinos captain Prince Masvaure believes calling off the season was warranted.
“It is really disappointing not to have completed the season.
“It is what every cricketer in the country would have loved to do since we do not play as many games, but it is what it is.
“This was beyond anyone’s control; nothing much you could do about it.
“We are hopeful we will have an early start to the new season…God willing. Cricket is the game we love and not to playing it at the moment hurts, but at the same time we have to deal with the pandemic, we cannot blame anyone about that. God is in control, I am sure.”
Masakadza insists that voiding the season was the best decision.
“There are a lot of disadvantages and advantages to the different teams in terms of all the four options we looked at.
“Best-case scenario would have been to try and somehow finish the season, but that was rendered impossible by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and expiry of the domestic contracts.
“It was now a case of going with the option that would best suit the majority of the teams.
“It would have been difficult to award a winner as both competitions that had started were still wide open and teams had not played an equal number of games,” Masakadza said.
