Zimbabwe Vs England Match Today

Zimbabwe Vs England Start Today

Zimbabwe Vs England Tem Profiles :

Team England Profiles :

After a desperately disappointing CWC 2007 campaign, England will be looking to bounce back in South Africa at the ICC World Twenty20.

But Peter Moores’ side will have to overcome old adversaries Australia, as well as a young Zimbabwean side, if it is to progress to the latter stages of the competition.

England will look to Andrew Flintoff for inspiration, while Kevin Pietersen, the fastest man to 1,000 ODI runs in history and one of three English batsmen to have topped the LG ICC ODI batting rankings, will undoubtedly be hoping to make an impact in his country of birth in his first appearance in South Africa since scoring three fantastic ODI hundreds.

England’s options with the ball are more limited and it will be looking for the likes of Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad, as well as spinners Jeremy Snape and Chris Schofield, to spring some surprises with the ball.

England has played six Twenty20 Internationals with mixed fortunes. It made an instant impact on the sport when it thrashed rivals Australia by 100 runs in its first Twenty20 match at the Rose Bowl.

Paul Collingwood’s 46 off 26 balls and Pietersen’s 34 off 18 balls helped England to 179-8, before devastating bowling from Jon Lewis and Darren Gough reduced Australia to 31-7, eventually being bowled out for 79 off 14.3 overs.

But in its next three games England didn’t enjoy much success, losing to Sri Lanka by two runs and Pakistan by five wickets at home in 2006 and being defeated by Australia by 77 runs at the SCG in 2007

England then lost its opening Twenty20 match against the West Indies at the Oval in June 2007, but Owais Shah then steered his side to victory the following day.

While Twenty20 cricket has been played in England since 2003, central contracts mean that many of the country’s leading stars only have limited experience of this form of the game. Prior to the start of the 2007 county season, Pietersen had played just 14 county games, Flintoff nine while Collingwood made just four appearances in this format of the game.

And that is why England has chosen to select the likes of Darren Maddy, Jeremy Snape and Luke Wright to support some of their biggest stars.

Team Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe faces a tough test if it wishes to improve on its results at recent ICC events. It will have to overcome the might of both Australia and England in order to progress into the second stage of the competition.

And it will be looking to take inspiration from famous Zimbabwe performances in previous CWC events such as the Duncan Fletcher-inspired defeat of Australia in the CWC 1983, and its famous win over England at the CWC 1992.

A disappointing CWC 2007 campaign saw Zimbabwe lose to West Indies and Pakistan and take part in only the third CWC tie in history, against Ireland.

Stuart Matsikinyeri was Zimbabwe’s leading run-scorer in the CWC 2007, with 107 runs, including 73* against Ireland, and his side will rely on him, as well as promising batsman Vusi Sibanda, for runs.

Sean Williams, who scored 70* against host country the West Indies, also showed promise at international level in the CWC 2007, having graduated from captaining his side at Under 19 level just last year.

Elton Chigumbura and Gary Brent were their side’s leading wicket-takers at the CWC 2007, with both players taking three wickets when Zimbabwe was defeated by Pakistan, and they will be key performers.

Zimbabwe’s only experience of international Twenty20 cricket was when it played against Bangladesh last year at the Khulna Divisional Stadium and was defeated by 43 runs. Bangladesh recorded 166 all out, with Prosper Utseya taking 3-25, before Zimbabwe struggled to reach 123-9.

Zimbabwe also suffered a heavy defeat to provincial side, the Eagles, at Kimberley as part of its South African tour last year, being bowled out for just 103 before the home side reached its target off just 11.4 overs

Zimbabwe Vs England Match Timeing

Cape Town
1400 Local,
1200 GMT