West Indies A to visit Zimbabwe?

A report in the government-controlled Sunday Mail claims that Zimbabwe will host a series of matches against West Indies A in July as part of their preparations for their planned return to Test cricket in November.

The article quotes Lovemore Banda, Zimbabwe Cricket's media manager, as saying that the board was "looking at playing a number of longer-version matches against the A sides of other Test-playing countries as part of our preparation to resume playing Test cricket when West Indies tours Zimbabwe in November. To that extent, we are expecting the West Indies A side here early July for a tour that will focus on multi-day cricket."

However, Dinanath Ramnarine, the chairman of the West Indies Players' Association, told Cricinfo that no mention had been made to his organisation about the trip. Under an agreement between WIPA and the West Indies' board, all such tours have to be negotiated between the two bodies in advance.

Meanwhile, there is growing confusion over ZC claims that it will host matches against South Africa A later this month. Nobody at Cricket South Africa was available for comment and stories regarding the trip have stopped appearing in the state-run media.