The revival of cricketing ties between England and Zimbabwe comes full circle this Thursday as Trent Bridge hosts a standalone four-day Test between the two nations.
For Ben Stokes and his squad, the match offers a crucial warm-up ahead of a high-profile five-Test series against India this June. Meanwhile, for Craig Ervine’s Zimbabwean side, it may be a rare – and possibly once-in-a-lifetime – opportunity to compete on English soil.
The two teams last faced off in a red-ball Test during England’s James Anderson’s debut series in 2003, and they haven’t met in any format since 2007.
“England is the only team I haven’t played against, so this would basically be my debut men’s international game against them,” 38-year-old Sean Williams, Zimbabwe’s premier Test batsman with five hundreds and an average of 44, told Reuters after supplanting Anderson as world cricket’s longest-tenured player.
“When we talk about a 20-year career, that is an incredible thing to think about.”
Cricket and diplomatic relations soured by the mid-2000s, when Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe embarked on an economy-crippling land redistribution program that displaced thousands of white farmers and left the African country isolated from the West.
No. 2-ranked England will look to “Bazball” exponents Harry Brook, Joe Root and Stokes to bat their opponents into submission and ease the burden on an inexperienced seam attack in the abbreviated fixture.
Gus Atkinson, with 11 caps, will lead an injury-hit attack missing veterans Mark Wood and Chris Woakes, while Essex mainstay Sam Cook, with 321 first-class wickets at 20 apiece, prepares for a debut.
“He’s kept knocking the door down, fair play to him,” said England selector Luke Wright.
For the No. 10-ranked visitors to defy all odds and catch England off guard in Nottingham, leadership will be sought from those with local knowledge.
Impressive strike bowler Blessing Muzarabani, averaging 22 for 51 Test wickets, spent two seasons with Northamptonshire and offers a point of difference with his two-meter frame, while top-order batsmen Ben Curran and Nick Welch, along with power hitter Sikandar Raza, also have county experience.
Zimbabwe has languished in cricket’s doldrums since the turn of the century but used to punch above its weight in regular contests with the former colonial power.
Their rivalry peaked during a 1996-97 tour when then-England coach David Lloyd infamously declared, “We flippin’ murdered ’em,” upon drawing a Test series – prematurely claiming moral victory before being clean-swept in the 50-over leg and conceding a hat trick to chicken-farmer-turned-paceman Eddo Brandes.