Zimbabwe begin to rebuild

Zimbabwe's attempt to rebuild after the chaos which followed the sacking of most of their leading players earlier in the year gets underway on Thursday when they take on India A at Harare.

"The Indians will provide a stern test of our progress," said acting coach Phil Simmons, standing in for Geoff Marsh whose contract ends in September. "They [the young Zimbabweans] have an impressive attitude and team spirit. Their skills in all departments are definitely improving. They are all seeking Test team places and will be looking to give impressive performances."

The new-look Zimbabwe side were hopelessly outclassed in Tests against Sri Lanka in April, and with India A containing several experienced players - three of the squad have played Tests - it is hard to see them faring any better this time round. "There will be no quarter for the Zimbabweans," said India A's coach Sandeep Patil.

And Zimbabwe are missing several front-line players. Mluleki Nkala, Tawanda Mupariwa, Waddington Mwayenga, Dion Ebrahim and Tinashe Panyangara are unavailable for the game due to injury, although they expect to return for the second and third matches in the series.

Zimbabwe T Taibu (capt), M Vermeulen, B Taylor, S Matsikenyeri, V Sibanda, E Chigumbura, P Utseya, G Cremer, E Rainsford, I Chinyoka, C Chibhabha, T Mufambisi. India A (from): S Bahutule (capt), H Badani, A Chopra, G Gambhir, S Sriram, R Gavaskar, D Kartik, A Bhandari, A Salvi, R Powar, M Patel, MS Dhoni, D Jadhav, SS Paul, Y Golvalkar.