English cricket teams prematurely end Zim tour over coronavirus pandemic

Staff Reporter

English cricket clubs, Derbyshire and Durham, have abruptly pulled out of a tour of Zimbabwe over the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Zimbabwe is yet to record a single case of the novel virus.The teams arrived in Zimbabwe last week and were scheduled to play across three formats against local opposition in Bulawayo and Harare respectively.

But, only one game, a T20 match between Derbyshire and the Zimbabwe Select side, was played at Queens Sports Club on Saturday before the county sides confirmed they were cutting short their stay in the country.

The Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) confirmed the development on Monday.

“It is regrettable that the county teams have been forced to cut short their Zimbabwe tour as a precautionary move, but it is totally understandable as the clubs are concerned, like all of us would be, about the worsening COVID-19 situation back in their country and elsewhere in the world,” ZC acting managing director Givemore Makoni said.

He added: “Nevertheless, we would like to thank both counties for committing to the tour which we have no doubt would have been memorable and a massive boost for our game had it not been discontinued. “We hope to host them again in the near future.”

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