2018 Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series

2018 Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series
Date1–8 July 2018
LocationZimbabwe
Result Pakistan won the series
Player of the seriesFakhar Zaman (Pak)[1]
Teams
 Australia  Pakistan  Zimbabwe
Captains
Aaron Finch Sarfaraz Ahmed Hamilton Masakadza
Most runs
Aaron Finch (306)[2] Fakhar Zaman (278)[2] Solomon Mire (212)[2]
Most wickets
Andrew Tye (12)[3] Mohammad Amir
Shadab Khan (5)[3]		 Blessing Muzarabani (5)[3]
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The 2018 Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series was a cricket tournament held from 1 to 8 July 2018 in Zimbabwe.[4] It was a tri-nation series between Australia, Pakistan and Zimbabwe, with all the matches played as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) at the Harare Sports Club.[5][6] In the fourth T20I, Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by seven wickets, therefore Australia and Pakistan qualified for the final.[7] Pakistan defeated Australia in the final by six wickets to win the series.[8]

Originally, the tour was just going to feature Australia and Zimbabwe, with the two teams playing two Tests and three One Day Internationals (ODIs).[9][10] In June 2018, the Zimbabwe team threatened to boycott the tour in a dispute over outstanding money that had not been paid to players.[11] Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) paid one of the three months' worth of outstanding salaries, with the players giving ZC the deadline of 25 June 2018 to pay the rest, or face a boycott.[12] However, despite not being paid, the players are likely to call off the protest and play in the series,[13] but the demand for the outstanding salaries payment deadline remains in place.[14] Zimbabwe Cricket assured players that all the outstanding salaries would be paid by 25 July 2018, one month after the players' deadline.[15] A few days later, Zimbabwe Cricket named a 22-man preliminary squad for the series, which was trimmed down to a final seventeen players.[16][17] Zimbabwe did not initially name a captain, after Graeme Cremer was sacked following the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament.[17] A day before the first match, Hamilton Masakadza was named as Zimbabwe's captain.[18]

  1. ^ "'A great team effort' – Sarfraz Ahmed". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "2018 Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series leading runs scorers". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "2018 Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series leading wicket takers". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Australia and Pakistan to play tri-series in Zimbabwe". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Zimbabwe Cricket announce T20I tri-series against Australia, Pakistan". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Australia set for Zimbabwe tour". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  7. ^ "Zimbabwe knocked out despite Solomon Mire 94". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  8. ^ Rasool, Danyal (8 July 2018). "Fakhar Zaman's 91 seals record chase to give Pakistan the title". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  9. ^ "Future Tours Programme" (PDF). International Cricket Council. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Zimbabwe terminate contracts of Streak, Klusener & Co". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Zimbabwe players threaten to boycott T20 tri-series". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  12. ^ "Graeme Cremer, Sikandar Raza left out of T20 practice matches". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  13. ^ "Zimbabwe players likely to call off protest and play in tri-series next month". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  14. ^ "Uncertainty continues to cloud Zimbabwe T20 tri-series". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  15. ^ "Zimbabwe Cricket assures player salaries by July 25". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  16. ^ "Raza, Taylor absent from Zimbabwe T20I squad". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  17. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ZimFinalSquad was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ "Pakistan, Australia in Zimbabwe with No.1 spot to fight for". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 30 June 2018.