Eddie Chikamhi-Zimpapers Sports Hub

IN about 10 days’ time, the Zimbabwe cricket team will plunge into battle at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri-Lanka where coach Justin Sammons has set the bar higher by aiming for a Super Eight Berth.

The Chevrons are in a buoyant mood as they return to the big stage, hoping to atone for the disappointment of their failure to qualify for the previous edition of the biennial event held in the US and West Indies in 2024.

The team travelled early to Sri Lanka where they set-up base for a training camp last week so that they acclimatise to the conditions in the sub-continent.

Twenty teams, placed in four groups, are taking part in the competition, with the top two from each pool progressing to the Super Eight. Zimbabwe are in Group B and will play former champions Australia, Ireland, Oman and hosts Sri-Lanka.

Despite the perennial disappointments they have experienced over the years, Chevrons head coach Sammons has remained optimistic of his team’s chances in 2026.

“Obviously our main focus is to qualify for the Super Eights, and it’s going to come down to us winning the key moments in games and being aware and alert to that.

“But certainly, our goal is to get through the group stage into that Super Eight phase of the competition,” said Sammons.

The South African expat coach is banking on his squad led by skipper Sikandar Raza, who made the team of the tournament the last time Zimbabwe participated in 2022. The all-rounder has also been in fine form at the SA20, which ended in South Africa at the weekend.

Sammons has also included in the squad experienced players such as Ryan Burl, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Bradley Evans, Blessing Muzarabani and the duo of former captains Brendan Taylor and Graeme Cremer, who recently returned from retirement.

These will be complemented by a host of young guns like Brian Bennett, Tinotenda Maposa, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Tashinga Musekiwa, and Dion Myers.

This team played lots of cricket in the last 12 months and Sammons believes this experience will count in their favour.

They engaged the likes of Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, Namibia, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, apart from host-ing the Africa World T20 Qualifier. This kind of exposure gave Sammons and his team the platform to work on their game.

“2025 was excellent in terms of the amount of cricket that we played and who we played it against, I think that was more important,” he said.

“The fact that we played strong opposition sort of month in, month out was really good. I think it really allowed us to see where we were at from a skills level point of view and realise what needs to be done to sort of lift our standard because it does need to be lifted.

“And so, yeah, it gave us that understanding of what’s needed, and now it’s a process of implementing that.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, it takes time, but soon the guys will have bought into what’s needed to get to the standard that we know we need to get to. So, 2025 was really important in terms of that.

“Obviously moving into this competition, again we understand the standards that we need to sort of deliver and the skill set that we need to deliver under pressure as well.

 “So, I think it does boil down to, you know, are we able to execute our skills under pressure during this tournament.”

Zimbabwe are expected to continue with their training camp in the Sri Lankan port city of Hambantota until the weekend and will relocate to the capital Colombo for the start of their group games.

They are scheduled to play a pre-tournament warm-up game against the Netherlands next Tuesday.

The tournament will start on February 7 with the opening match featuring Netherlands and Pakistan at SSC Cricket Ground. The Chevrons will get their campaign underway in Oman at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo on Feb-ruary 9, before a high-profile encounter against Australia at the R. Premadasa Stadium on February 13. The team will then travel to Kandy to face Ireland at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on February 17, before returning to Colombo to conclude their group fixtures against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium on February 19.

Zimbabwe Squad — ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026:

Sikandar Raza (captain), Brian Bennett, Ryan Burl, Graeme Cremer, Bradley Evans, Clive Madande, Tinotenda Maposa, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Brendan Taylor