The Bravehearts of Zimbabwe have arrived at Australian soil after a long time and are now gearing up to take on them in a three-match ODI saga. They will be challenging the five-time World Champions Australia in order to issue an announcement to World Cricket that the Red Army still knows how to hunt big guns. The opening fixture of the series will be hosted by the solitary venue of Townsville’s Tony Ireland Stadium on the 28th of August 2022.
It will be a historic bilateral series for the Chevrons who faced major heartbreaks in the past few years and are on a pathway to recovery from the crisis. Meanwhile, Cricket Australia has also boosted the hype for the series after announcing a full-strength squad for the 50-over campaign.
This series will mark the return of Adam Zampa who last featured in an ODI match in April 2022 against Pakistan at Gaddafi Stadium and missed the Sri Lanka tour owing to his paternal duties. The 30-year-old has become a strike spinner of the Baggy Greens and will face no obstacles to directly walking into the Aussie Playing Eleven.
Steven Smith did well in the first two games against Sri Lanka but was placed on the bench for the next fixtures to stay fresh for the Test series. The fans of the star Australian batter are hyped up to see him swinging his willow in home conditions. The talismanic speedster Mitchell Starc is also set to return after recovering from a finger injury which kept him out of the previous ODI series.
Zimbabwe’s biggest hope with the ball, Blessing Muzarabani will also be returning to the field after missing out on the previous series. A tear in his thigh muscle kept the 25-year-old out of the limited-overs campaign against India which could have been the biggest turning point of his career. However, the veteran batter Craig Ervine, spinner Wellington Masakadza and pacer Tendai Chatara are still unavailable for the selection.
What have they done so far?
Zimbabwe hosted the visiting Indian team for a three-match One-Day International series at their premier venue of Harare Sports Club. The Men in Blue whitewashed the Chevrons on a 3-0 scoreline but displayed a great fightback in the final fixture of the series. While chasing the target of 290, the Red Army was too close to achieving it due to the heroic ton of Sikandar Raza but eventually fell short of just 13 runs.
Australia’s last ODI campaign was a five-match series against Sri Lanka back in June 2022 where the Lankan Lions emerged victorious by 3-2. The Aussies were confident after their T20I triumph in the same tour and also won the opening game but couldn’t carry forward the momentum in the latter fixtures. The home team won three back-to-back matches to ensure their claim on the ODI trophy while the Baggy Greens took one back in the final consolation game.
Head to Head record
When Zimbabwe stunned Michael Clarke and the company
The Yellow Invincibles have a one-sided record against Zimbabwe which shows their dominance against the African test-playing nation. Australia has won 27 matches in 30 encounters between them while 17 of the victories came in foreign conditions. On the other hand, Zimbabwe could emerge victorious against the Baggy Greens only twice in the 50-over format while one clash ended with a resultless outcome.
The two combatants faced each other for the first during the 1983 Prudential Cup where Zimbabwe made their World Cup debut with a thumping win over the Aussies. Then the Oceanian country went on an incredible unbeaten streak of 28 matches from 1983 to 2014 and won 27 out of them. The most recent chapter of this rivalry was staged eight years ago in 2014 when the Chevrons registered a three-wicket victory over the visitors after the late heroics of skipper Elton Chigumbura who scored 52 not out to achieve the target.
Surprisingly, the Red Army hasn’t participated in a One-Day International campaign against Australia for the last 18 years. The last time they travelled to Australia was the occasion of the Triangular VB Series against hosts and India where they finished last without a single win in eight played matches. Zimbabwe lost the first two encounters with the Aussies in a one-sided manner, fought hard in the third one but still ended up on the losing side and the fourth and final battle was washed out due to rain interruption.
Key Players
The Big Show gearing up for his turn
Glenn Maxwell: Maxi is an underrated ODI player when it comes to the 50-over format as his mastery of T20 cricket always overshadows the other white-ball format.
He was the highest scorer of Australia in the Sri Lanka ODI series where he fetched 160 runs from five innings at a strike rate of 140.35 which was the highest among batters who scored triple-digit runs tally.
The 33-year-old batting all-rounder also emerged as their second-highest wicket-taker of the series after bagging five dismissals of the Lankan batters.
Sikandar Raza: The biggest hope of Zimbabwean cricket who is capable enough to be called one of the best all-rounders in the cricket world right now.
Raza was about to pull off a miracle against the Indian team in his previous international appearance where he scored his ODI career’s sixth century.
He played a marvellous knock of 115 runs off 95 balls striking nine fours and three sixes but unfortunately got dismissed in the penultimate over of the failed run-chase.
Predicted Playing XI
Australia: Aaron Finch (C), David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood, Adam Zampa
Zimbabwe: Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Innocent Kaia, Regis Chakabva (C & wk), Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, Ryan Burl, Tony Munyonga, Luke Jongwe, Brad Evans, Victor Nyauchi, Blessing Muzarabani
Prediction
Whether it’s the head-to-head record or on-paper strength, the Men in Yellow outclasses their counterparts in each and every aspect of the game. Hence they are the hot favourites to emerge victorious from this contest and should grace the champions podium if they are able to stick to the basics. This Zimbabwean seems a bit different from all of their rosters of the past few years and holds credibility to upset the mighty Aussies.