Zimbabwe to play Test match against Pakistan in August
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) issued a press release saying that Zimbabwe will host a Test match against Pakistan in August 2011.
Zimbabwean team has not played any international five-day cricket since 2005, after getting their Test status suspended by International Cricket Council (ICC), due to political turmoil in the country.
“We will be touring Zimbabwe in August to play the lone test and ODIs and we then host Sri Lanka for a future tours program series,” a PCB official told the media.
The Zimbabwe Cricket team is very young, undergoing a building process. The crisis started in 2006 when all senior players rebelled and denied representing Zimbabwe, leaving their country cricket in a disastrous situation.
Rhodesians have already found themselves out of the ICC World Cup 2011, as they lost four out of their six group matches and were not able to demonstrate any notable performances against the big guns in the mega event.
During this year, Zimbabwean cricket is also hopeful for an opportunity to play Test cricket against Bangladesh. Their permanent place among the Test status countries depends on their performance in the five-day matches against Pakistan and Bengali Tigers.
Zimbabwe started playing Test Cricket in 1992 and since then, Pakistan and Zimbabwe have contested each other in 14 Test matches. Out of these 14 games, Pakistan won eight while Rhodesians succeeded just a couple of times.
From 1992-2005, Zimbabwe’s overall winning ratio in Test matches was just 9.63 percent, as they won only 8 out of the 83 matches they played. On the other side, Pakistan is more experienced side with a better winning percentage of 30.05. Men in Green joined
Test playing nations in 1952 and so far in their Test playing era, the Cornered Tigers have won 107 out of 448 Test matches.
Pakistan has not played any Test cricket at home due to security concerns after an attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009. Pakistan side is due to tour West Indies in May 2011 where both teams will face each other in two Test matches and five one-dayers.