ZC look ahead to 2027 World Cup

Zimpapers Sports Hub

ZIMBABWE CRICKET (ZC) have started preparations for the two World Cup tournaments in 2026 and 2027, which they will co-host with Namibia and South Africa, respectively.

The country is slated to co-host the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup with South Africa, for which construction of the multi-purpose stadium in Victoria Falls has begun.

Before that, there will be co-hosting the Under-19 global tournament with Namibia.

In their preparations, ZC are concentrating on adding more depth and giving some of the young players more exposure.

ZC general manager (cricket affairs) Dirk Viljoen said the sudden influx of tours at age-group level and for the developmental side was aimed at giving local players some much-needed international exposure.

“We have a structure that has had individual provincial tournaments, then we go into the National Premier League (NPL); after that, provincial cricket. That is not good enough,” he said.

“For us, what is critical is to identify talent and then give them an opportunity. That is how you confirm talent. Confirming talent is to give them games and these emerging tours that we have been having are not result-oriented.”

Viljoen said the tours were aimed at identifying the talent and developing a cricket brand.

“They are not about winning or losing the series,” he said.

“What they are about is to see where players are, what kind of brand of cricket we are playing and if our players are technical. We want to find out where we are mentally as players; which ones have the capability of going to the next level and which ones aren’t ready yet.

“This is critical when you’re now building towards hosting a World Cup.”

He said the tours played a key role in bridging the gap between domestic and international cricket.

“I think the danger that we have had in the past is that we have played the NPL, we have gone into provincial cricket, then jumped from provincial cricket into national cricket, which may be just a bit too far.

“Now, if we can go provincial, regional and then emerging national team, that sort of bridges the gap between each step and its process.

“The structures of Zimbabwe Cricket need to be able to confirm that each player is good enough to play international cricket,” he said.