Mega Market Mountaineers’ quartet in Zim XI

FOUR Mega Market Mountaineers players – Donald Tiripano, Tony Munyonga, Timycen Maruma and Joylord Gumbi – are part of the Zim XI squad for the West Indies warm-up encounter.

Zimbabwe Cricket has announced a Zimbabwe XI side that will face the West Indies in a three-day warm-up match ahead of the Test series in Bulawayo.

The preparatory game is scheduled to start tomorrow (Saturday) at Bulawayo Athletic Club.

The 15-man Zimbabwe XI squad includes five players with Test caps in Tiripano, Carl Mumba, Maruma, Wessly Madhevere and Milton Shumba.

Players enjoying good form in the Logan Cup – among them Tapiwa Mufudza, Gumbie, Kudzai Maunze, Tanunurwa Makoni and Priviledge Chesa – have also been selected.

After the warm-up game, Zimbabwe will face the West Indies in two Test matches at Queens Sports Club, also in Bulawayo

The first Test is scheduled for February 4-8, with the second pencilled in for February 12-16.

Meanwhile, Star all-rounder, Sikandar Raza has been named in the International Cricket Council (ICC)’s ODI and T20I teams of the year, becoming the first Zimbabwe male player to achieve the feat.

The line-ups – a feature of the ICC Awards 2022 which captures the best combined XIs across the different formats of men’s and women’s international cricket after an action-packed year of competition – were announced on Tuesday.

After enjoying a terrific run of form during the year, it came as no surprise when Raza was included in the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year as well as the ICC Men’s

T20I Team of the Year.

He is also shortlisted for three of the ICC’s major individual awards.

Raza first made history when he was named the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for August 2022, becoming the first Zimbabwean to win the prestigious accolade.

The talented all-rounder clinched the award after he scored three centuries against Bangladesh and India.

He was instrumental in claiming the ODI series victory for Zimbabwe against Bangladesh thanks to unbeaten scores of 135 and 117 which came during two superb run-chases.

Zimbabwe Squad for West Indies match: Akram Faraz, Chesa Priviledge, Chivanga Tanaka, Gumbie Joylord, Madhevere Wessly, Makoni Tanunurwa, Maruma Timycen, Mashinge William, Maunze Kudzai, Mufudza Tapiwa, Mumba Carl, Munyonga Tony, Shumba Milton, Tiripano Donald, Tsiga Tafadzwa

ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year: Babar Azam (captain) (Pakistan), Travis Head (Australia), Shai Hope (West Indies), Shreyas Iyer (India), Tom Latham (wicketkeeper) (New Zealand), Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (Bangladesh), Alzarri Joseph (West Indies), Mohammed Siraj (India), Trent Boult (New Zealand), Adam Zampa (Australia) ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Year:

Jos Buttler (captain/wicketkeeper) (England), Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan), Virat Kohli (India), Suryakumar Yadav (India), Glenn Phillips (New Zealand), Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe), Hardik Pandya (India), Sam Curran (England), Wanindu Hasaranga (Sri Lanka), Haris Rauf (Pakistan), Josh Little (Ireland)– ZC/Senior Sports Reporter