Zimbabwe to participate in SuperSport Series

Zimbabwe will play more cricket than ever this winter with the announcement that they will field a representative side in all three franchise tournaments in South Africa this season.

Explaining the rationale behind the decision taken by the boards of the two countries, Brian Basson, general manager, CSA cricket operations, said that all full member countries had been requested by the ICC to assist Zimbabwe in the development of their cricket. Because of the close geographical proximity, he said, South Africa have a special responsibility in this regard.

Because this initiative has been undertaken at short notice, Zimbabwe will only play a single round in the four-day SuperSport Series with all their matches being at home. The franchises will take their points forward from these matches although this will not apply to Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe will, however, play a full double round, home and away, in the MTN Domestic Championship and a full single round (home and away) in the Standard Bank Pro20 series. Should the Zimbabwe side qualify for the knock-out phases, these matches will be played in South Africa,

The initiative will be reviewed after the completion of the season. There will be no changes to the fixtures as originally announced for matches between the South African franchises.