Zimbabwe’s cricket calendar is anything but light this year. In the latest addition, they are set to host Sri Lanka in Harare for a white-ball tour in late August. This will be the first time since 2016 that Sri Lanka will play a bilateral in Zimbabwe.
The series, which was squeezed to fit in Zimbabwe’s already demanding schedule, will see both teams play two ODIs, instead of three games as part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP), and three T20Is between August 29 and September 7. The tour in its entirety will be played at the Harare Sports Club.
Zimbabwe’s current schedule is already in full swing. Following a four-day Test they played in England in May, they returned to gear up for the two-Test games tour against South Africa, which begins today in Bulawayo. There’s hardly any breathing room before they move on to host a T20I tri-series involving themselves, South Africa, and New Zealand. This will be the first time since 2018 that they will host a tri-nation series. After this series ends, New Zealand will stay on to play two Test games against them beginning July 30.
After their matches against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe will quickly turn their focus to the T20 World Cup Africa Regional Qualifiers, which will run from September 19 to October 4 on home turf. Zimbabwe are looking to return to the global T20 stage, having not featured in the World Cup since the 2022 edition.
The road ahead doesn’t end there. Zimbabwe will host Afghanistan for an all-format tour at the end of the year, continuing to make this year one of their busiest cricketing periods. This means they will play at least eleven red-ball games this year, which is the same number, as per the FTP, as how many of matches Australia will play in 2025. Only in 2013 did Zimbabwe play more Test games in a calender year, which was 6.
Zimbabwe Cricket’s Managing Director, Givemore Makoni, expressed his anticipation for the upcoming contest. “We are delighted to confirm Sri Lanka’s visit to Zimbabwe for what we expect to be a thrilling and competitive series,” he said. “Matches between our two nations have always produced entertaining cricket and this tour comes at a crucial time for our team as we prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup qualifying campaign.”
Despite playing more Test games than they have in a long time, Zimbabwe are not part of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC). Tavengwa Mukhulani, Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, says the board doesn’t have a clear pathway as to how they could make their way to the Test Championship.
“We don’t know why we are not part of the WTC and we don’t know the criteria of how the teams in the WTC were picked. Equally, we don’t know what we need to do to be in that league.”
Schedule for Sri Lanka vs West Indies White-ball tour:
1st ODI – August 29
2nd ODI – August 31
1st T20I – September 3
2nd T20I – September 6
3rd T20I – September 7
All games are to be played at Harare Sports Club
