da bet esporte： Zimbabwe will look to the ICC to ensure that their future tour commitmentsgo ahead as planned
da jogodeouro： Osman Samiuddin12-Jan-2008
Peter Chingoka is hopeful that the ICC will ensure Zimbabwe’s tour of England in 2009 goes as planned © AFP
Zimbabwe will look to the ICC to ensure that their future tour commitmentsgo ahead as planned. Recent reports suggest that the UK government areuneasy in allowing Zimbabwe to tour the country as planned in 2009 andmight not let the tour go ahead. However, while the government wants the series to be scrapped, it will allow Zimbabwe to take part in the ICC World Twenty20, scheduled to take place in England in 2009.Peter Chingoka, president Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), arrived in Karachi withthe Zimbabwe team and said that he hopes the Future Tours Programme (FTP)will dictate the fate of the tour.”Our focus is more about ICC, about ensuring that the FTP remainssacrosanct,” Chingoka told Cricinfo. “We’re looking to play more asopposed to excuses to not play each other. It’s important that the familylooks after every member and that all nations look after one another sothat the business gets stronger and bigger. Otherwise we are not beingtrue to the globalisation of the game.”Zimbabwe’s tour comes at a time of increasing political uncertainty andviolence in Pakistan: two days before their arrival a suicide bomb killedmore than 20 people in Lahore, the latest in a series of such attacksthroughout the country. Chingoka, however, said the team was focused on playingcricket.”We’re just focused on what we have to do. We have a job to do. Our teamis coming here without any hesitation because the business of cricket mustmove on. We’ve been in touch with the PCB and they ensured us that we willbe looked after. There is no reason to doubt that.”We should all try to fulfill the FTP and in fact play each other more.”Zimbabwe play a four-day match against a Patron’s XI in Karachi beforetaking on Pakistan in a series of five ODIs. More important than theresults, Chingoka said, would be the opportunity for the team to furthertheir progress back to eventual Test status.”Zimbabwe will play in conditions they are not accustomed to playing in. We have been playing three and four-day cricket lately but it isvery important for them to play here. There have been times when we havestruggled against spin bowlers and here is an opportunity to work on that.”After the matches we hope they will talk to cricketers from other sideand glean more and more from them. This four-day match is very importantas part of our process to get back to Test cricket.”Zimbabwe have welcomed back in recent times some valuable members to theirside, including former captain Tatenda Taibu and veteran left-arm spinnerRay Price. Alongside the likes of Brendon Taylor, Elton Chigumbura andProsper Utseya, the captain, they have put together a couple ofencouraging international performances recently, including wins overAustralia at the ICC World Twenty20 and an ODI win over West Indies.”Chigumbara is a quality allrounder, Taylor is a good playerand we have a number of other promising players as well,” reasonedChingoka. “We hope to be able to put up some solid performances inPakistan and give a good account of ourselves.”
