The Sunday Mail
Don Makanyanga
Sports Reporter
WHEN Zimbabwe women’s cricket team take on Pakistan in their opening assignment of the Asians’ tour at Harare Sports Club on Tuesday, it will be exactly 639 days since the home side last played an international game.
The Lady Chevrons were last in action on May 12, 2019, when they hosted Namibia in T20 Internationals in the capital, after which a suspension by the International Cricket Council (ICC) robbed them of a chance to grace the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup qualifiers in Scotland.
Since then, the Lady Chevrons have been on a lengthy hiatus, which was prolonged by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
And any hopes for an earlier return was dealt a heavy blow in January as Zimbabwe’s tour of Namibia was cancelled following the introduction of the Level Four lockdown.
This came in the wake of a spike in the number of Covid-19 infections that followed the second wave of the virus.
But that was then.
Now, Zimbabwe and Pakistan are expected to meet in three ODIs and three T20 Internationals, with Lady Chevrons’ coach, Adam Chifo, saying there could not have been a better time than now for this tour.
“We have been out of international cricket since the T20 qualifiers in 2019, so you can imagine.
“We, however, remain optimistic, and Pakistan couldn’t have come at a better time.
“The ladies are keen to get going and we are all looking forward to the qualifiers in July,” said Chifo.
Having been absent from the international game for two years, the squad have a lot to catch up on in terms of getting to the level the sport demands.
The ICC 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup qualifiers are slated for Sri Lanka between June and July.
“We have a lot of catching up to do in all aspects of the game ahead of the qualifiers.
“We had hoped to gain some momentum from the domestic league in December, but, unfortunately, the lockdown has pulled us back.
“This is an important tournament for us.
“We stand to learn a lot from the series. Pakistan are ranked seventh and we are not ranked. There is no better way of preparing for the World Cup than playing the big teams . . .
“We will get the chance to see, judge ourselves and be able to work on things that we may have needed to work on before,” added Chifo.
Lady Chevrons captain Mary-Anne Musonda said hosting Pakistan has left everyone in camp excited.
“We are anxious and excited.
“Excited to be able to play cricket again and anxious as we have not played any international cricket since 2019.
“Every time we approached competitions or matches things just went south.
“Now, after seeing Pakistan land in Zimbabwe, we suddenly got excited again.
“They are here and soon we will be playing international cricket again,” Musonda said.
The team is treating the tour seriously.
“This tour is very important, especially leading to qualifiers. It’s good preparation. Pakistan are one of the teams that are going to be there at the qualifiers,” she said.
