Daily Times

HARARE: The Pakistan team touring Zimbabwe had to delay plans to travel from Harare to Bulawayo after it emerged that they wouldn’t have a hotel to stay in. The team is in Harare at the moment, having triumphed in a T20I tri-series in which they beat the hosts and Australia to the title. They are scheduled to play a five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, starting on Friday. After winning the final on Sunday, Pakistan were originally scheduled to fly out on Monday evening but had to reschedule because the hotel they were due to stay in demanded payment upfront for the booking and Zimbabwe Cricket was initially unable to provide it, which resulted in the cancellation of the booking.

ZC has been in a financial crisis for some time now, having had to postpone domestic tournaments and struggled to pay players and employees. They have at least the promise of some help from the ICC now. The situation with Pakistan’s hotel bookings has since been rectified and the tourists will now fly to Bulawayo – a journey of under an hour by air – on Thursday morning, when their rooms become available. They will train on Thursday afternoon, ahead of the first ODI. The Zimbabwe squad arrived in Bulawayo on Monday night and trained on Tuesday morning. The teams will play all five ODIs at Queens Sports Club from July 13 to 22.

Published in Daily Times, July 11^th 2018.