chronicles
Brandon Moyo, sports reporter
ZIMBABWE will go into the Test series against West Indies without Sikandar Raza after the all-rounder was given permission by Zimbabwe Cricket to play exclusive cricket abroad.
Raza will take part in the ongoing International League T20 (ILT20) where he plays for the Dubai Capitals. He confirmed through his social networks that he will return to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
West Indies conducting their first training session at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo “It was good to return home and wear the #national jersey. Time to head back to #Dubai for ILT20Official and join my Dubai Capitals family. See you soon #Inshallah”, he posted on his Facebook account.
ZC Director of Cricket Hamilton Masakadza also confirmed that the all-rounder will not be part of the Chevrons Test. Zimbabwe is yet to announce the final squad for the series and several players who made the A team that will play in the warm-up match are expected to be part of the main squad.
The two-match Test series against the West Indies will be Zimbabwe’s first five-day outing since July 2021 when they played Bangladesh at the Harare Sports Club. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2017, when they also played two games at the Queens Sports Club.
Earlier this week, Raza, who has been in terrific white-ball form for Zimbabwe in 2022, was named in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) T20I and One Day International (ODI) teams of the year.
Sikandar RazaRaza also missed Zimbabwe’s T20I series against Ireland in Harare, which the Chevrons won 2-1, because he was playing franchise T20 cricket in Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates. He joined the team for the one-day series that ended 1-1 after the third and final game was scoreless.
The first Test match between Zimbabwe and West Indies is scheduled for February 4-8 while the second will be played from February 12-16. Before that, the Windies will face Zimbabwe A in a three-day warm-up match at the Bulawayo Athletic Club, which starts tomorrow.
The Windies arrived in Bulawayo on Monday afternoon ahead of the Test matches and they held their first training session on Wednesday and had legend Brian Lara assisting the batting side. The visiting team was boosted by the arrival of all-rounder Jason Holder and fast bowler Alzarri Joseph who were in
Sikandar Raza kisses his helmet after reaching his century against IndiaSouth Africa where they were involved in the SA20.
In 2017 the Windies won the two-match series 1-0, winning the first contest by 117 runs with the second five-day contest ending in a draw. In the drawn match, Raza top scored with 89 runs in Zimbabwe’s second innings, taking five wickets in the Windies first innings. He also scored 80 runs in Zimbabwe’s first innings to become the second player in history after Jacques Kallis to cross 80 twice and take five wickets in a Test, which saw him named man of the match.
Sikandar RazaZimbabwe’s record is not good against the Caribbean side in the longest format as they failed to win a match in their 10 encounters. Windies have seven while three have been withdrawn.
After Zimbabwe were granted Test status in 1992, they only played the West Indies in 2000 in the Caribbean. The West Indies won the first Test in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago by 35 runs and also won the second, this time by 10 wickets in Kingston, Jamaica. — @brandon_malvin
