England restore Test cricket relations with Zimbabwe
The restoration of cricketing ties between England and Zimbabwe will be completed on Thursday when Trent Bridge hosts a standalone four-day Test between the nations.
For Ben Stokes's men the unique fixture provides a tune-up before India visit in June for a marquee five-Test series, while for Craig Ervine's tourists it could be the only chance in their careers to play an international on English soil.
The last red-ball encounter between the sides came in 2003, James Anderson's debut series, and they have not 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."
Both cricket and diplomatic relations soured by the mid-2000s, when Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe embarked on an economy-crippling land redistribution program which displaced thousands of white farmers and left the African country isolated from the West.
Number-two 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 department in the abbreviated fixture.
Gus Atkinson, on 11 caps, will lead an injury-hit attack missing veterans Mark Wood and Chris Woakes as 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 10th-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-metre frame, while top-order batsmen Ben Curran and Nick Welch, along with power-hitter Sikandar Raza, also have county experience.
Zimbabwe have languished in cricket's doldrums since the turn of the century, but used to punch above their weight in regular spars 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 on the 50-over leg and conceding a hat-trick to chicken-farmer-turned-paceman Eddo Brandes.
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