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been played leading up to the Tri-series, which involves South Africa A and Australia A.
What is very important to remember is that we are going straight into the international season against two sides who, if the truth be told, are probably stronger and better than the Bangladesh national team.
Wouldn’t it have been better to start the first two rounds of the Castle Logan Cup in mid-May and, after all the franchises had had a game, then chosen the squad to go in to training?
Most of the batters would have spent quality time out in the middle and the bowlers would have bowled anything between 15 to 30 overs in a single innings.
It is just worrying to think that the players could be going into a very crucial part of the season undercooked.
Yes, the players will be playing a two-day warm-up match with one half of the squad playing the other half, which surely boils down to it turning into a glorified net session.
Cricket lovers in Bulawayo, Kwekwe and Mutare must be desperately disappointed as once again they find themselves left out in the cold with none of the matches being played at any of these venues.
It has become clear that because of the lack of international first class cricket that is spread to these cricket-starved people the longer version of the game is embraced and appreciated by, in particular, the Kwekwe community.
They go to great lengths to ensure that these matches are well attended while it was disturbing to note that when New Zealand A were here last year the crowd attendance was very poor in Harare.
This is a clear indication of how much the other cities in the country appreciate touring sides better than the people in the capital.
Meanwhile, fans in South Africa will be breathing a huge sigh of relief as their former opening batsman and World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten has agreed to take over as head coach.
He took the job after a lot of consideration as he wanted to spend more time with his wife and young family.
A decision has now been made and many analysts believe that the combination of Kirsten and former South African fast bowling sensation Alan “White Lightning” Donald, who will be the bowling coach, may very well produce a team that will be a big force.
There is no doubt in anybody’s mind that the South African public will expect the same results Kirsten achieved with the Indian team who lost their long time tag of being a good team and changed into a winning team.
They did this due to the coaching skills of Kirsten.
However, the former left hander was quick to point out that it was hard work and the biggest challenge to overcome was trust.
In a recent interview Kirsten said that it took him six months before he was able to totally gain the trust of the Indian team.
However, after he was able to win their trust, the rest was pretty much easy.
He and captain MS Dhoni, who Kirsten described as modern day’s best skipper, were able to manage and motivate India to not only remain a good side at home but a formidable side away from home.
This has left India’s newly-appointed coach Duncan Fletcher with a huge mountain to climb.
One aspect that may count in Fletcher’s favour is that he has had a little time out of coaching at international level which should leave him fresh.
But the expectations which will be placed upon Fletcher will make Gary Kirsten’s job look like a walk in the park.
It was also widely speculated that Graeme Smith would be relinquishing the captaincy in all forms of the game and that the popular AB De Villiers would take over.
But the powers that be have decided that Smith should stay on as Test captain despite a string of poor performances and hand injuries.
Sri Lanka must have raised a few eyebrows when they announced the inclusion of their former icon, 41-year-old Sanath Jayasuriya, in their One-Day International squad to face England after the Test series.
This one-time superstar is way past his best and the fact that he last played international cricket in December 2009 will surely put himself, and more importantly the rest of the team, under a great amount of pressure.
Dean du Plessis, a cricket commentator, writes exclusively for The Saturday Herald, the newspaper with the biggest sports coverage in the country. He can be contacted [email protected]