The Sunday Mail
Don Makanyanga
THERE has been a twist to the cancellation of Ireland’s tour of Zimbabwe, with Zimbabwe Cricket Tuesday dismissing claims that Covid-19 had bowled out the series scheduled for Harare.
Cricket Ireland claimed earlier in the day that their men’s tour of Zimbabwe had been postponed because of the Covid-19 situation in the country.
However, ZC, through their spokesperson Darlington Majonga, reacted with surprise at the claims made by the Irish, which he felt were inaccurate.
Majonga said ZC, instead, had failed to find suitable dates to host the Irish in the period they had proposed as they have a tight schedule.
In a statement, Majonga said ZC had a congested international fixture in the coming months.
“Zimbabwe is scheduled to face Afghanistan away and Pakistan at home between March and April, so accommodating the Ireland series in-between the two tours as had been proposed was not going to be feasible.
“The postponement of the proposed Ireland tour was due to scheduling challenges and had nothing to do with the ongoing Covid-19 situation in the country,” said Majonga.
He said Government is happy with the way the cricket association was abiding by the Covid-19 protocols in the country.
“The Government is happy with the bio-security measures that we put in place in order to minimise the risk of Covid-19 spreading among players and officials and has since granted us permission to resume playing international cricket,” said Majonga.
In their earlier statement, Cricket Ireland insinuated the Covid-19 situation in the country had forced them to shelve plans to visit Zimbabwe to a date as yet to be agreed upon with their Zimbabwean counterparts.
“We are obviously disappointed, but to be honest, it is not an unexpected announcement from our Zimbabwean counterparts. We appreciate their efforts and willingness to try and make the tour possible, but in the end, the health and safety of players and support staff must be of primary consideration,” said Richard Holdsworth, the high-performance director for Cricket Ireland.
The Irish cricket team was expected to begin their tour on March 28 with a three-match Twenty20 series that would be followed by as many One Day Internationals in April.
