Lady Chevrons tipped to do well

Fungai Muderere

ZIMBABWE senior national women’s cricket team coach Gary Brent is optimistic that his charges are going to do well when they finally make a return to international cricket after a six months absence when they embark on their maiden bilateral tour against Thailand in Bangkok later this month.

Lady Chevrons last played international cricket in September last year when they beat Thailand by seven runs in a third-place playoff encounter at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The Lady Chevrons will take on Thailand in three Twenty20 International matches from 19 to 23 April at the Terdthai Cricket Ground in the Thai capital.

The country’s flagship women’s cricket side established camp on Monday ahead of their tour to Thailand.

“The girls have embarked on a six weeks continuous game cycle, which has been fantastic and most of the senior players have really stepped up in the provincial games which has been pleasing to see. The camp is almost a top up as we need to get our game plans right. Already, all the hard work has been done from the beginning of the year up to now. We will work on our rotations and I’m expecting the girls to do exceptionally well,” said Brent.

He added: “It’s going to be an interesting tour for us, it’s a very compact tour. There has been a lot of cricket in a very short space of time. So, I hope that we can keep all the girls fit and playing so that we can play our best side the whole time. We have chosen 15 best girls in Zimbabwe at the moment. So, we are expecting to see what they are going to produce against a very strong Thailand side in their home conditions. It won’t be easy but we are certainly going with a very strong belief that we will get the results.”

There will be no training for Lady Chevrons during Easter. They will resume fine-tuning on 11 April and end on 13 April before their departure to Thailand.

The team has been active on the domestic cricket front after struggling to get regular international game time compared to their male counterparts.

The series will be of enormous consequence for both Zimbabwe and Thailand as there will be International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s T20I Ranking points on offer for both teams.

Zimbabwe has an edge over their opponents as they are ranked 11th on the latest ICC Women’s T20I Rankings, while Thailand is ranked 13th.

Meanwhile, Lady Chevrons captain Mary Anne Musonda is among 90 players from 37 countries taking part in the second edition of Fairbreak Invitational women’s cricket tournament that is being played in Hong Kong.

Dentons has partnered with FairBreak Global for the tournament that is meant to help progress gender equality. FairBreak’s aim is to create opportunities that progress gender equality on a global scale, using cricket as the primary vehicle.

The event is being played at the iconic Kowloon Cricket Club and six teams are taking part in the tournament that started on Monday and is expected to end on 16 April.

Musonda plays for defending champions Tornadoes where 20 matches will be played in 10 days.

After a decade of false starts and struggles, the inaugural edition of the tournament took place in May 2022. The tournament was initially scheduled in Hong Kong but was moved to Dubai due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The six-team affair brings players together from different parts of the world, and represents more countries than the ICC World Cups.