Zimbabwe to tour Scotland in June

After hosting Afghanistan for five ODIs in February, Zimbabwe have now plugged their gap in the international calendar by negotiating a tour of Scotland for two ODIs this summer. Before the Afghanistan ODIs, Zimbabwe were looking at a six-month hiatus.

This will be the first bilateral series between Zimbabwe and Scotland. Their only meeting so far was at the World T20 in India in 2016, when Zimbabwe won by 11 runs. The two matches in this series will be played at the Grange in Edinburgh on June 15 and 17.

"Securing home international matches against a Full Member nation is something we have all worked tirelessly on over the past 18 months so I am delighted we have managed to make these matches a reality," Cricket Scotland CEO Malcolm Cannon said. "The squad will relish the opportunity to put in some winning performances in front of a passionate home crowd."

Zimbabwe are also slated to visit Sri Lanka in June. With only the hosts and the top seven sides earning a direct entry to the 2019 World Cup, these matches will give Zimbabwe, currently ranked eleventh, a chance to gain significant game time ahead of the World Cup qualifiers set to be held in March-April next year.