Afghanistan tour of Zimbabwe postponed for second time

Afghanistan's tour of Zimbabwe, originally scheduled to be played in December 2021, has been postponed for the second time. The series has been postponed "due to the inability of arranging the required broadcasting services by the host country," the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said on Saturday.

The tour, which included three ODIs and five T20Is, was put off due to the Omnicron outbreak in the African nation which was also the reason behind the ICC Women's ODI World Cup Qualifier tournament being cancelled.

ACB's cricket operations manager Abdul Wali Amin said both the Boards had decided to play the series in February after the first postponement.

"We were in contact with Zimbabwe Cricket [in December] on how to proceed with the series upon the breakout of a new Covid-19 variant in Zimbabwe. Then considering the circumstances in Zimbabwe, both parties agreed to proceed with the series in February," Amin said in a statement.

Zimbabwe Cricket's inability to secure DRS services for the series is another reason behind the decision by ACB.

"We had then assessed and negotiated the concerns related to Covid-19 and travel restrictions in Zimbabwe. We had also reached an agreement with ZC to proceed with the series as planned in February. But we were informed by ZC that they are unable to secure the required broadcast services including the Decision Review System, so the tour was postponed for the second time," Amin added.

Afghanistan's recently-concluded ODI series against Netherlands was their international outing since the T20 World Cup in Oman and UAE in October-November. The ACB said that it is finalizing the team's tour of Bangladesh scheduled for this month.