SA vs ZIM 2017: Zimbabwe Captain Greame Creamer Ready For the Historic Four Day Test

Zimbabwe cricket team has left for South Africa to play in the one of four day Test match in Port Elizabeth scheduled to begin on Boxing Day. Some of the Zimbabwean players are coming from Bangladesh after playing in the Bangladesh Premier League. Zimbabwe’s skipper Graeme Creamer who played for the Comilla Victorians in the BPL reached the semi-final of the tournament is optimistic about his team’s performance in the match and believes it is a historic match for both the teams.

Cremer was in Bangladesh with his Zimbabwean teammates like Sikander Raza, Solomon Mire and Zimbabwe under-19 captain Liam Roche. Cremer and Mire played for the same team in the BPL, and both had a disastrous start to their BPL career’s as they were dismissed for a duck. However, Cremer made a solid comeback in the tournament as he picked up three wickets for 15 runs few matches later.

Talking about his experience of playing in the tournament Cremer said:

 “I haven’t been around. I got back home the day before yesterday (Thursday) from Bangladesh where my team Comilla Victorians lost in the semis. It was a good tournament, a different game altogether and it was well organized. Cremer told the Daily News before boarding the flight to South Africa.”

“The tournament is well followed in Bangladesh. It was good to mix with the quality that was in abundance out there with players drawn from all over the international cricket community which was pretty much a good experience for me.”   

He also said that it would be tough for his teammates to adapt to the longer format just after returning from BPL but believes that the three-day warm-up match will help his team to get a taste of the upcoming challenge. He said:

 “I know the team has been practicing very hard with the technical team, the morale is very high everyone is excited to be part of the historical Test match. Everyone is fired up and just waiting for the moment to arrive.”

“It’s a tough challenge for me and the other guys having to adapt to Test mode after playing in the T20 series but we are happy we have the warm-up match and we are all looking forward to that but its nothing major, as a cricketer you have to be good in all the three formats-Test, ODIs and T20 cricket.”

Zimbabwe Test Squad for South Africa-:

Graeme Cremer (Captain), Hamilton Masakadza, Craig Ervine, Brendan Taylor, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Regis Chakabva (wicketkeeper), Sikandar Raza Butt, Ryan Burl, Tendai Chatara, Blessing Muzarabani, Tendai Chisoro, Peter Moor, Solomon Mire, Kyle Jarvis, Christopher Mpofu.