Newstime.co.za
Sunday, June 20, 2010
By Nicholas Ndebele
ZIMBABWE Cricket (ZC) is targeting Bangladesh, West Indies and New Zealand as the first batch of countries to play when they eventually return to Test cricket next year.
ZC managing director Ozias Bvute has outlined an ambitious programme, driven by sports minister David Coltart’s drive to revive cricket ties with all nations, as the only way Zimbabwe can bounce back into Test cricket.
“It would be premature for us to jump straight into a normal playing schedule like all the other nations. Instead, we are working on a new calendar which will hopefully see us play Bangladesh, West Indies and then New Zealand over the next two years.
“We are yet to approach any of these boards with our request, though we would like Bangladesh to play in a Test match here in Zimbabwe, soon after the 2011 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup ends in April next year.
“The gradual re-entry is intentional, to allow our cricketers to build confidence and gain momentum. Supreme to all of this is the integrity of the results such that they are reflective of competitive cricket matches,” he said.
Zimbabwe has just played host to India and Sri Lanka in a triangular and T20 series.
“We will engage the rest of the cricketing world with the objective of playing once-off fixtures in Zimbabwe over a period,” Bvute said.
“We recognise that, in the short term, it may not be commercially viable for the other nations to have Zimbabwe touring, but we will engage them with the prospect of allowing out national team to play their A sides in their countries.
“This will allow our team to familiarise themselves with other playing conditions and ultimately gain more experience.”
Bvute stressed the need for the team to be consistent.
“The greatest hurdle we must overcome is for our team to be consistent. A lot more work needs to be done to ensure that the objective of playing consistent and competitive cricket is achieved.
“I am confident that the technical team we have around our boys, in both the franchise and national team structures, set us in the right direction.”
The domestic structures have also been revamped with the birth of the South African-style franchise system.
“It is hoped that our domestic cricket structure will serve as a valuable feeder system to our national team and, to this end, we have given a directive that our franchises engage coaches of a very high international standards .
“We have also made it mandatory that each team has a set number of foreign players,” Bvute said.