Australia hopeful of touring Zimbabwe despite the latter's pay dispute issue

Australia will tour Zimbabwe for a T20I Tri - series including Pakistan from July 1.

Zimbabwe Cricket is going through a lot of termoil in recent times. (Financial Express)

In a way, both Cricket Australia and Zimbabwe Cricket are fighting their own battle. While the former is trying to clean its tarnished image in international cricket after its recent turbulent episode in the ball tampering scandal in South Africa, the latter is trying to retrieve their payments which have been due for a long time from their cricket board. 

Australia's T20 side face England in a one-off game after the current ODI series, then are due to take on Zimbabwe and Pakistan from July 1-8 in Harare.

A standoff between players and Zimbabwe Cricket over unpaid match fees and salaries has cast doubt over the T20 series.

According to a report in ESPN, the payments for the Zimbabwe players have been unpaid since their last tour to Sri Lanka in July last year. The two cricket board have  been in constant conversation since then to release the payments and Cricket Australia is hopeful that the issue will be resolved soon. 

However, political  tension in the African country continues to loom large during the time when the series is about to be played.  The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is warning Australians that "instances of conflict cannot be ruled out in the lead up to, during and soon after the election" and "the security situation could deteriorate quickly".

CA representatives earlier this month visited Zimbabwe's capital, inspecting facilities and assessing security arrangements. They have given the green light for the tour to proceed.

Justin Langer's team will soon receive briefings on security and anti-corruption, as is the case prior to most series.

Qantas T20I tri-series Tour of Zimbabwe

July 1: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

July 2: Pakistan vs Australia

July 3: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 4: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

July 5: Pakistan vs Australia

July 6: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 8: Final

 

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 15 Jun, 2018

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