Zimbabwe will face Afghanistan in a Boxing Day Cricket Test at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
Zimbabwe (3.65) have a home advantage, but the form guide suggests Afghanistan (1.27) is more likely to prosper in this test.
Afghanistan only became a fully fledged Test cricket nation in 2017 and played its very first Test match in 2018 against India. Since then, they have won three test matches and lost six of the nine they have played, including a 1-1 Test series draw with Zimbabwe in 2020/21.
Afghanistan’s Test cricket history may not be the greatest, but their opponents, Zimbabwe, are in far worse form. The hosts have not had a Test series victory since beating Bangladesh in 2011 in a one-off Test match. Once a proud cricketing nation, Zimbabwe have fallen into a difficult place to get out of.
Zimbabwe Cricket’s Struggles
In 2019, the ICC suspended Zimbabwe due to alleged government interference in cricket and later reinstated them that same year. However, it was a culmination of two decades of tension over the intersection between politics and cricket.
This had previously come to a head during Robert Mugabe’s tenure as Zimbabwe’s president, as Henry Olonga and Andy Flower famously donned black armbands against Mugabe’s presidency and what they saw as the crumbling rule of law. This was at the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, which Zimbabwe jointly hosted with South Africa and Kenya.
At the time, Zimbabwe had a team brimming with top players. However, the poor financial management of the game and the departure of talent from the Zimbabwean cricket system led to a lull in the game’s development, which effectively allowed Afghanistan to fill the role in the cricket world of the plucky underdog that routinely defies the online sports betting odds. The underdog role was, of course, once played by Zimbabwe.
Afghanistan Cricket’s Rise
Afghanistan made the T20 Cricket World Cup semi-finals this year in an achievement which highlighted the tremendous progress the sport has made under difficult circumstances in the country.
Having recently beaten South Africa in an ODI series, Afghanistan is poised to take their momentum into the Test cricket game and bring about a new start in their fantastic cricketing story.
