The Netherlands will lock horns against Zimbabwe in the first of the three-match ODI series, on March 21 (Tuesday) at the Harare Sports Club – the venue for the entire series which ends on March 25.
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The good news for the Zimbabwe fans is that their side is back with a full-strength squad for the imminent series, which is also a part of the ODI Super League 2020-2023.
The likes of allrounder Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl are back in Harare for their national teams after being involved in franchise T20 leagues recently. While Raza was part of the Lahore Qalandars who lifted their second consecutive Pakistan Super League (PSL) title a couple of days ago, Burl was involved with the Mid West Rhinos franchise in the Zimbabwe Domestic T20 competition.
Also, experienced players in Sean Williams, Tendai Chatara, and Blessing Muzarabani are back after recovering from their respective injuries. All these five players were absent from the Zimbabwean squad which recently lost the home Test series against West Indies 0-1 at home.
Netherlands, on the other hand, will be led by their wicket-keeper batter Scott Edwards, who will have the services of experienced campaigners in Roelof van der Merwe, Max oDowd, Paul van Meekeran etc. at his disposal.
Harare Sports Club pitch report
The Harare Sports Club recently hosted a three-match ODI series between Zimbabwe and Ireland last month, which ended in a stalemate.
Traditionally, this venue has produced scores of low-scoring matches over the years, with teams having scored runs at an average of 237.5 runs in the ODI format.
The reason being that the pitch has this tendency to get slow as the match progresses, although the spinners do not generally extract significant turn off the surface.
It is the pacers who get decent help from the pitch at this venue, especially with the hard, new ball. This is the ripe time for them to scalp some wickets and shake the top-order up.
Overall, the pitches at this venue make for a competitive action between bat and the ball, with the contest generally skewed in favour of the batters.
Zimbabwe and Netherlands out of direct qualification race for World Cup 2023
Although the series is part of the ODI Super League, both Zimbabwe and Netherlands are out of the the race of earning a direct qualification for the ODI World Cup later this year.
They will however, take part in the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe from June 18 to July 9.
