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TEST cricket comes to life again for the Zimbabwe national senior team after a 20-month hiatus, thanks to the visit by one of the top cricket nations — New Zealand — this week.

Zimbabwe are set to play two Test matches against the Black Caps.

The first Test is scheduled for July 28–August 1 while the second five-day game is pencilled in for August 6-10. Both matches will be played at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.

Because it is not every day that Zimbabwe gets to play Test cricket, it is only wise to make the most of the few opportunities they get if they are to improve their game and attract more sparring partners.

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket and is considered the game’s highest standard.

It is generally considered the most complete examination of the team’s playing ability and endurance and it’s a privilege that Zimbabwe has to value to be among the 10 nations in the whole world that play Test cricket.

But quite dishearteningly, Zimbabwe were recently excluded from the ICC Test Team Rankings because they had not played the required eight Test matches over the required new rating period.

Zimbabwe had last played a Test match back in 2014, when they toured Bangladesh for a three match-series.

They paid the price for the inactivity on the big stage as they concentrated more on the limited overs games because of lack of opponents in the Test bilateral series and relying only on the ICC Future Tours Programme.

However, after the two-match series against New Zealand, Zimbabwe’s Chevrons will reflect automatically on the ICC Test Rankings table.

There is more good news for the team as plans are afoot to engage Sri Lanka before the end of the year for a complete tour involving Twenty20 International matches, One Day Internationals and Tests.

But focus now is on New Zealand.

The Black Caps arrived in Harare on Wednesday with the international spotlight on them following the failed attempts by a group of social media activists to cause civil unrest in the country.

The protests, which at times turned violent, happened last week in some parts of the country, but they were far from achieving the “shutdown” which the instigators had targeted.

To their credit, New Zealand Cricket refused to bow to an online petition demanding a boycott of the tour insisting they “. . . would either need to prove Zimbabwe was unsafe and there was a direct threat of violence to the tour party, or cast significant doubt on the host nation delivering the team’s security and safety plan.”

Besides the financial implications of a boycott under the Future Tours Programme agreement, New Zealand Cricket had said they had wanted to monitor the situation for themselves before making any decision against the tour.

Under the International Cricket Council’s Future Tours Programme agreement, teams that pull out of scheduled tours are ruled to be in breach of contract and liable to pay hefty compensation to the host nation including loss of broadcasting rights money.

Upon arrival and being welcomed by the tranquil Zimbabwean atmosphere at the Harare International Airport, the New Zealand cricketers should have been relieved to learn that the situation on the ground was miles different to what had been portrayed by the international media.

They have been training; had a golf day on Thursday and are currently playing a warm-up match with Zimbabwe A at Harare Sports Club throughout the weekend with no incident.

The Black Caps toured Zimbabwe without incident a year ago, playing three ODIs and a T20 match.

Asian giants India also completed their limited overs series in Zimbabwe safely last month.

Afterwards, South Africa A toured for an unofficial Test against Zimbabwe A, which took place in Harare at the same time the protests were taking place, but with no security risk for the touring side.

What Zimbabwe needs now are results on the pitch.