SPORTS WRITER
Afghanistan’s proposed tour of Zimbabwe for five one-day international matches next month has been called off.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) had requested Zimbabwe Cricket to host the series in Harare to help their team prepare for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup 2019 in England.
“Although the two boards had agreed to share the tour expenses, the prohibitive costs of broadcasting the matches live on television – which the ACB was insisting on – unfortunately derailed the proposed series,” said ZC in a statement.
This comes after Zimbabwe’s senior men cricket team’s proposed tour of India which was supposed to be happen this month was cancelled after the Asian country secured the same window for bilateral series with Australia instead.
The cancellation of the Indian tour followed meetings between Zimbabwe’s ruling cricket body, the ZC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India, held in Mumbai, India.
While India is one of the 10 teams participating in the 2019 Cricket World Cup to be staged in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14, 2019, Zimbabwe, which hosted the qualifying tournament last year and eliminated, will not take part in the World Cup for the first time since 1983.
Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by two runs, held to a tie by Scotland and lost to minnows, the United Arab Emirates by three runs at Harare Sports Club, ending the Chevrons’ World Cup dreams.
The global showpiece has changed its format. Ten teams will participate in the tournament, a decrease from previous World Cups in 2011 and 2015 which featured 14 teams.
The teams participating in the World Cup are England, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and West Indies.
The 2019 showpiece is the 12th edition of the Cricket World Cup. It will be the first World Cup to be contested without all of the Test playing nations being represented. After the elimination of all Associate teams at the qualifying tournament, this will be the first World Cup to feature non Associate members. In previous World Cups, Associate teams were guaranteed four spots in the tournament. But, this year they were all eliminated in the qualifying tournaments.
