Zimbabwe tour to South Africa [Preview]

Zimbabwe is all set to tour to South Africa in the month of September to play three ODIs followed by three T20I games. Zimbabwe Cricket Board is currently through a lot of crises with disputes in relation to non-payment of salaries to players. Graeme Cremer, Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams, and Sikandar Raza were the four players who were engaged in a pay dispute with Cricket Board.

Lalchand Rajput has been named as new Head coach of Zimbabwe Cricket Team. He will be keen to get things sorted so that the national side can focus on their upcoming tour to South Africa. Hamilton Masakadza will be hoping that his side can put in better show with bat and ball against South Africa after suffering 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Pakistan at home.

Ryan Murray, Chamu Chibhabha and Elton Chigumbura are experienced players in the batting department. Zimbabwe will have to find a way to collectively produce runs as a unit. Peter Moor and Liam Roche are promising players that can certainly do well in their first trip to South Africa.

Zimbabwe Captain Hamilton Masakadza certainly needs to lead from the front in the upcoming series against South Africa. The 35-year old has played close to 200 games for Zimbabwe and will need to use all his experience to get the best out of his side against South Africa. Masakadza’s own form has taken a sharp decline in past couple of years but will need to score the bulk of runs to make sure Zimbabwe can show some fight against South Africa.

Kyle Jarvis, Donald Tiripano and Tendai Chatara are premier options in the bowling department. Blessing Muzarabani has retired from the international career in order to pursue his cricket in England and play country cricket.

On the other hand, Faf du Plessis has been ruled out of the upcoming one-day series against Zimbabwe. Quinton de Kock or JP Duminy are front-runners to lead South Africa in the series against Zimbabwe.

Quinton de Kock scored 213 runs in the five-match one-day series against Sri Lanka. He looked to be back at his best during the series and failed to score a hundred on the tour. Reeza Hendricks smashed a splendid ton on his debut but could not do much in the next two games of the series.

It looks like that Hendricks will retain his place in the lineup for the upcoming series against Zimbabwe. JP Duminy chipped in with good performances against Sri Lanka in the one-day series and topped the batting charts with 227 runs at an average of 56.75.

Duminy will be keen to continue his good form in this series. Heinrich Klaasen and Wiann Mulder are exciting prospects for the future for South Africa. Mulder is an all-rounder that offers value with bat and ball. Heinrich Klaasen has been impressive for South Africa in a short span of time.

The only concern for South Africa will be the form of Hashim Amla and David Miller. The duo did not do much in the one-day series against Sri Lanka.

In terms of bowling department, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi formed a lethal combination with the new-ball. The duo picked up 16 wickets between them to help South Africa win the one-day series.

The opening game of the one-day series will be played on 30^th September at Diamond Oval, Kimberly. The second and third games will be played at Bloemfontein and Paarl respectively.

The one-day series will be followed by three-match T20 series that will begin from 9^th October at Buffalo Park, East London. The other two games will be played at Potchefstroom and Benoni.

It will be interesting to see how Zimbabwe play in the upcoming tour of South Africa.