Zimbabwe's tour of Pakistan gets underway on Monday with a four-day
match against a strong Patron's XI captained by Shahid Afridi. Stripped of
Test status, the Zimbabwe officials had wanted to play the longer version against strong teams to get their players
back in the mindset of Test cricket. However, with small boundaries on
offer at the DHA Cricket Stadium - a venue where Zimbabwe played a
Test in
November 1993 - it is difficult to expect much defensive play, especially
with the likes of Afridi and Brendan Taylor being involved.
Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwe's captain, and Robin Brown, their coach, said that the team was on the recovery path and the confidence levels were high after a couple of high-profile victories in the recent past: Zimbabwe beat Australia in the World Twenty20, and won an ODI against West Indies at home recently.
"We are young in age, not experience," Brown had said. "We played four-day
games in South Africa with good results and the more cricket we play, the
more experience we will gain. We're not too far away from getting back to
where we were."
With wins against Australia and West Indies preceding the
100% record in South Africa, it is difficult to tag them as pushovers. A flat track with lots of cracks awaits them in
the four-day match, one that will test their all-round abilities,
something Brown is eager to prove to the sceptics.
However, even though Patron's XI contains only a handful of
internationals, most of them have had terrific starts to the domestic
season. While Afridi, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed and Samiullah
Khan have been in touring parties before, the likes of Sohail Khan, Kamran
Hussain and Naumanullah will be hoping to impress the selectors further.
While Naumanullah was adjudged best batsman in the recently concluded
Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Sohail has grabbed 65 wickets in nine matches during
his maiden domestic season and Kamran, the 30-year-old left-arm
fast-bowler, has not only managed 568 runs but also 35 wickets in the
Trophy.
Zimbabwe's practice session was delayed in the morning as their luggage
had not arrived yet, while some of the Patron's XI players were busy at the National Stadium, where they are participating in a high-performers camp. The action will shift to the DHA Cricket Stadium from tomorrow, and the pitch and the conditions suggest plenty of fireworks - with maybe a few broken windows of the surrounding houses - over the next four days.
Squads
Patron's XI - Shahid Afridi (capt), Khalid Latif, Nasir Jamshed, Afaq
Rahim, Naumanllah, Fawad Alam, Kamran Hussain, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir
Shah, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Samiullah Khan Niazi, Rizwan Ahmed, Rauf
Akbar, Khurram Manzoor
Zimbabweans - Prosper Utseya (capt), Gary Brent, Chamu Chibhabha,
Elton Chigumbura, Keith Dabengwa, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza,
Stuart Matsikenyeri, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Ray Price, Vusi
Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu (wk), Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams