January 14, 2008	Monday	Muharram 04, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 13: The visiting Zimbabwe cricketers will start their preparations for the coming One-day International series against Pakistan with a four-day fixture against a strong PCB Patron’s XI at the DHA Stadium here from Monday.

After being awarded Test status in 1992, Zimbabwe are currently struggling for survival on the international stage after being suspended from the Test arena not long ago following a spate of controversies between senior players and the cricket board.

However, despite being confined to figure in One-day Internationals, the Zimbabweans are desperate to return to the Test fold in the not too distant future.

Originally, the tourists had planned two practice games in Karachi prior to the start of the one-day series, but the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the violence that followed the tragedy led to a change in schedule.

On paper Zimbabwe may lack match-winners, but they are capable of creating an upset or two, as they recently did against the West Indies in the one-day home series they lost 4-1.

Obviously, Zimbabwe want to use this four-day match to give maximum practice to their players who have seldom figured in the longer version of the game.

Proper Utseya, the young off-spinner thrown at the deep end of the national captaincy in July 2006, leads a comparatively youthful squad with Ray Price, the slow left-armer, the oldest player at 31.

But Utseya sounded pretty optimistic at the first media conference shortly after the tourists arrived in the city on Saturday afternoon.

“We are confident of doing well on this trip. We played some good cricket in the last few months against big teams,” the 22-year-old said. “And if we can beat Australia [in the World Twenty20 Championship] then we can beat anyone. We want to continue doing that here.”

Shahid Afridi, who is keen to make up for the disappointment of not leading Habib Bank to the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy title, has been appointed the PCB Patron’s XI captain. The Pakistan all-rounder is keen to make his mark here before the ODI series starts.

The local side mostly includes those who had performed with distinction in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship.

The match starts at 10:00am.

Teams from:

PCB PATRON’S XI: Shahid Afridi (captain), Khalid Latif, Nasir Jamshed, Afaq Raheem, Naumanullah, Fawad Alam, Kamran Hussain, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Samiullah Niazi, Rizwan Ahmed, Rauf Akbar, Khurram Manzoor.

ZIMBABWE: Prosper Utseya (captain), Vusimusi Sibanda, Hamilton Masakadza, Chamu Chibhabha, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Keith Dabengwa, Elton Chigumbura, Gary Brent, Ray Price, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Sean Williams, Timycen Maruma.

Umpires: Riazuddin and Ahmed Shahab.