daniel chigunwe
Eddie Chikamhi
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE and Afghanistan cricket teams will be hoping that rain will not ruin the three-match ODI series that is scheduled to begin at Harare Sports Club this morning.
The three-match series has come under the cloud of a tropical cyclone that made landfall in parts of Zimbabwe yesterday.
According to the forecasts by the Meteorological Services Department, Cyclone Chido, which began in the Indian Ocean last weekend, is expected to result in widespread thunderstorms across the country until Sunday.
The next two games will be played on Thursday and Saturday.
Weather forecasts for today predict between 70 to 80 percent chances of thundery rainfall activity during the day in Harare.
But the two teams will be keeping their fingers crossed as Zimbabwe looks to revenge the close defeat in the T20I series that concluded at the weekend.
Veterans Craig Ervine and Sean Williams are set to bounce back in the Zimbabwe team for the One Day International series.
The duo comes in among the five changes to the team that featured in a three-match T20I contest against the visiting Asian side last week. Zimbabwe lost the shortest format 1-2 and will be looking to make amends in the ODI competition. Ervine is the captain of the ODI games. He and Williams will be returning for the ODI series along with Joylord Gumbie, Victor Nyauchi, and Ben Curran, who has received his maiden national team call-up.
The quartet of Faraz Akram, Ryan Burl, Takudzwanashe Kaitano, and Wessly Madhevere will make way for the quintet.
The Chevrons need to be in top form to upstage the Afghans, who have dominated the meetings between the two sides with 18 wins against Zimbabwe’s 10.
The last time the teams met, Zimbabwe lost 0-3 at Harare Sports Club, two years ago. There is more to play for for the Chevrons, who have been struggling to get series wins of late in all formats. The most recent ODI series against Pakistan last month ended with a 1-2 defeat at Queens Sports Club.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean players were fined 10 percent of their match fee by the International Cricket Council for maintaining a slow over-rate in the third T20I against Afghanistan on Saturday. Andy Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanction after Zimbabwe were ruled to be two overs short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration.
“In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined five percent of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time.
“Zimbabwe T20I captain Sikandar Raza pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing.
“On-field umpires Iknow Chabi and Forster Mutizwa, third umpire Percival Sizara, and fourth umpire Langton Rusere laid the charge,” said a statement from ICC.
Zimbabwe ODI Squad: Craig Ervine (captain), Brian Bennett, Ben Curran, Joylord Gumbie, Trevor Gwandu, Tinotenda Maposa, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tashinga Musekiwa, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Newman Nyamhuri, Victor Nyauchi, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams
Afghanistan ODI Squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmat Shah, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ikram Alikhil, Abdul Malik, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, AM Ghazanfar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran, Fareed Ahmad Malik.
