Preparation in full flow as Zimbabwe all set to host the Men's Cricket World Cup qualifiers

The 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifiers is scheduled to take place from June 18 in Zimbabwe.

Major cricket is back in Zimbabwe as they gear up to host the upcoming men's Cricket World Cup qualifiers. The winner of the tournament will feature in the global showdown which takes in India from October to November.

The tickets for the group stages went on sale this week and the matches that involve Zimbabwe will cost from USD2 to USD10. Other matches that don't include Zimbabwe are free of cost.

For the unknown, Zimbabwe doesn't host a lot of matches and therefore, any match that happens here grabs a huge crowd. Even the recently concluded series between Zimbabwe Select XI and Pakistan Shaheens fetched a decent crowd.

Therefore, the crowd is expected to be huge for the marquee tournament.

Zimbabwe, who hosted their first international game in 1992, has seen only 65 Tests. At the same time, major countries like England have hosted 201 games. This big difference in numbers has something to do with the fact that the team didn't play anywhere from September 2005 to August 2011 due to administrative issues in the country.

Ever Since 2011, the team comparatively have hosted more matches. The frequent visitors to the country are Pakistan and Sri Lanka. While India, Bangladesh and West Indies have visited a fair amount, England and Australia haven't turned up a lot. England have played just two Test matches in the country while Australia have played just one.

We're really excited to have the Cricket World Cup qualifiers: Ray Price

Talking about cricket in the country, Zimbabwe star Ray Price told to Cricbuzz that this competition is huge for the country as nine strong teams are all set to make their appearance in the country.

"It's huge for us. We haven't had a lot of cricket, especially Test matches. All the top nations are always so busy. So any form of cricket is welcome. We're really excited to have the Cricket World Cup qualifiers here," he said.

All the matches in the Cricket World Cup qualifiers will be counted as an official one-day game. So far, the country has hosted just 259 ODIs, which is 50 per cent lesser than countries like India, Australia and South Africa. Even the team doesn't play more home T20Is. Zimbabwe have hosted just 67 T20Is since June 2010 while even countries like Rwanda have hosted more than 100 T20Is in the same duration.

"We're so happy to be having cricket here," Price said.

Zimbabwe squad for the Cricket World Cup qualifiers: Ryan Burl, Tendai Chatara, Craig Ervine, Bradley Evans, Joylord Gumbie, Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams.