Zimpapers Logo

“You just never know if you’re not given the opportunity, and I think next year is the right call. It’s time to start that process again. I’m not sure (if Zimbabwe are ready for Tests), is the honest answer,” Flower told Cricinfo.

“But we didn’t know if we’d be ready originally, when we were first given Test status. People wrote us off then, and our first class structure then wasn’t as good as it is now.

“It was either we sink or swim, to grab a cliché, and we just had to get on with it. We didn’t have much depth, but we did alright with it. We got a Test victory probably quicker than any other nation, from what I can recall. Certainly New Zealand and Bangladesh.”

Flower, who played in Zimbabwe’s inaugural Test against India in 1992, argued that while the current seam attack might initially struggle at Test level the resurgence of the country’s first-class structure would stand what would essentially be a fledgling Test side in good stead.-Cricinfo