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Eddie Chikamhi

Senior Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe national women’s cricket team is set to leave for Namibia today for the Capricorn Women’s Tri-Series where they into the tournament as the team to beat.

Lady Chevrons Team Manager and Coordinator, Caroline Nyamande, yesterday confirmed the team will depart Harare around 8:15am and will only arrive in Namibia later in the day after a lengthy stopover in South Africa.

The Zimbabwe team has been in camp for the last 10 days.

They engaged in a number of drills and practice games as the players sought to impress the selectors, as well as new coach Gary Brent, in their preparations.

Nyamande said they are looking forward to the triangular series, which will involve hosts Namibia and Uganda women’s cricket teams.

The series is key for Zimbabwe who are scheduled to play in the 2022 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier set to take place later this year.

“We are excited to be part of the tri-series which we are using as part of preparations for the ICC World Cup Qualifiers later this year and the inaugural ICC Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup next year.

“We have a squad that blends experience and Under-19s coming up the ranks. We are thankful for the invitation and are confident that our full-strength squad will deliver the fours, sixes and all the excitement that comes with the T20 version of the game,” said Nyamande.

The stakes in the tri-series tournament are very high for all three sides. Zimbabwe are the highest ranked at number 11 in the global T20 rankings.

They are followed by Uganda who are 19th while the hosts Namibia are placed 21st. Given the series has ICC T20 International status, there will be valuable ranking points for the best-performing sides and this makes Zimbabwe the team to beat.

The series will be the first outing for former Zimbabwe international Brent, who recently replaced Adam Chifo at the helm.

“We have a new coach Gary Brent who is eager to lead in the first series as a national team coach. We are bringing the bulk of the squad that participated at the ICC Women’s World Cup global qualifier we hosted last November,” said Nyamande.

Zimbabwe will open their account tomorrow against Uganda in the morning before playing the hosts later in the afternoon at CCD field in Windhoek.

Cricket Namibia CEO Johan Muller said they are excited to host the series as they are targeting enhancing the women’s game as well as shore up their ICC T20 world rankings.

“To uplift female cricket at both grassroots and international level is one of Cricket Namibia’s strategic objectives. This Tri-Series, in which we host two of the top teams of the African continent, is an example of realising our strategy.

“I want to thank Zimbabwe and Uganda for committing to this tournament. Strong relations amongst African countries are key for the development and progress of the game.

“We want to invite the Namibian community to support this tournament and our Capricorn Eagles,” said Muller.

Uganda are returning to international cricket for the first time since September 2021 when they competed in the ICC T20 Africa World Cup Qualifiers in Botswana. The tournament was won by Zimbabwe.

The Victoria Pearls finished fourth at the qualifiers in Botswana. That performance cost the technical team their respective positions and now a new technical team will be in charge for the series.

Cricket Cranes legend Lawrence Ssematimba is the head coach with his namesake Lawrence Ssempijja his deputy while Rita Tinka joins the dugout as Team Manager.

Uganda Cricket Association CEO Martin Ondeko said they are aiming to win games and improve their rankings.

Zimbabwe’s fixtures:

Tomorrow

Zimbabwe Women v Uganda Women (9:30am)

Namibia Women v Zimbabwe Women (2:30pm)

Thursday:

Zimbabwe Women v Uganda Women (2:30pm)

Saturday:

Namibia Women v Zimbabwe Women (2:30pm)

Sunday:

Zimbabwe Women v Uganda Women (9:30am)

Namibia Women v Zimbabwe Women (2:30pm)

Tuesday April 26:

Final (2:30pm)