Seen as a watershed moment in the gentleman’s game, South Africa could face Zimbabwe on the Boxing Day, in a bid to play the four-day One-off Test after visiting India delayed an itinerary due to a busy schedule, before visiting the southern part of the African continent for the grueling bilateral series.
Interestingly, Zimbabwe side led by leg-spinner Graeme Cremer after senior campaigner and opening batsman Hamilton Masakadza was sacked from his post, are expected to be at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth – to feature in the historic game while donning the white jersey.
“To take advantage of our brand-new lights at St George’s Park, we will host Zimbabwe in the first ever 4-day D/N test match to be played. The test status of the match is subject to ICC approval,” revealed in his statement for CSA.
As Haroon Lorgat, CEO of CSA, was busy convincing his counterparts in India for the Boxing Day Test, a freshly announced itinerary revealed visitors India will play the first Test on January 5, 2018, at Newlands in Cape Town.
Interestingly, while briefing the media persons at Johannesburg, Lorgat stated some changes were forced in the series after India is bound to arrive late which would witness the extension of the itinerary.
(Read Also: Cricket South Africa on Lookout for Boxing Day Test Opponent)
Both teams will play Three Tests, six One-day internationals, and three Twenty20 fixtures.
“The time constraints faced by India have forced us to reduce the test matches to three while increasing white ball cricket to six ODIs and three T20I matches,” Lorgat added.
Lorgat reiterated the upcoming series would be the fascinating series for the World ranked No. 1 India and ranked South Africa, as he further believes it would be Test the top-notch players while wrestling against each other.
“The Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela Test series starts at Newlands on Friday, January 5 and will be a series to be watched as the number 1 and 2 best ranked teams in the world challenge for the Freedom Trophy,” Lorgat maintained.
However, the remainder of the fixtures could be announced later this week, as Virat Kohli’s side will fly to South Africa on December 28.
“We have now finalised the fixtures for a very busy home summer of international cricket,” Lorgat asserted.
As the world cricket governing body ICC is yet to accord the four-day fixture in the fold of Test status, it is expected the CSA would be working closely to persuade the Board owing to its duration.
Moreover, the approval solely relies on the ICC governing council; it has become important to point out that the Board has itself shown the liking for the four-day match in spite of the five-day game in the recent past.
“This will give us a total of 10 home test matches this summer against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, India and Australia, making this our busiest home test season ever,” Lorgat concluded.
Pertinently, the five-day cricket is seen as traditional format, as the changes are expected to take place in the foreseeable future only after the ratification from ICC.