Sharjah: Zimbabwe will begin their two-Test series against Afghanistan on Thursday with a new captain, a returning veteran and a debutant-in-waiting — a reshaped side forced by injury and refreshed by a recall nearly nine years in the making.
Brian Bennett, 22, will lead Zimbabwe in Sharjah after regular captain Richard Ngarava was ruled out of the series with a back injury. Bennett takes charge of a 17-member squad for a series that runs from November 5 to 9, with the second Test scheduled from November 13 to 17, both matches at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Fast bowler Tanaka Chivanga is also out through injury, leaving Blessing Muzarabani to lead a pace attack featuring Brad Evans, Newman Nyamhuri and Kundai Matigimu.
The headline name, though, is Graeme Cremer. The veteran leg-spinner, now 40, returns to the Test squad for the first time since December 2017, when he last featured in a day-night Test against South Africa. Cremer, the third 40-year-old in the side after Craig Ervine and Brendan Taylor, has remained part of Zimbabwe’s white-ball sides and has lived in the UAE for several years — experience the selectors clearly value on Sharjah’s turning surfaces, where he will share the spin duties with Wellington Masakadza, Vincent Masekesa and the uncapped Antum Naqvi.
Naqvi’s inclusion is a story in itself. The Belgian-born all-rounder, who has played domestic cricket in Zimbabwe since 2023, has finally been cleared under ICC eligibility rules and could make his long-awaited Test debut in Sharjah. Zimbabwe Cricket had been awaiting confirmation as recently as June; the clearance, announced with the squad, ends a long wait for one of domestic cricket’s most talked-about players.
Afghanistan, captained by Rehmat Shah, will look to carry winning momentum into the series after their recent white-ball success against Zimbabwe, and stand-in captain Bennett has already dismissed any suggestion that the earlier results will decide the Tests. For Zimbabwe, the series is a fresh start in the longest format: a young captain, two senior batters in Taylor and Ervine to steady the middle order, and a leg-spinner returning after almost a decade away. If Cremer takes the field in Sharjah, it will be one of the great comeback stories of the Test year.
Zimbabwe squad: Brian Bennett (captain), Antum Naqvi, Ben Curran, Blessing Muzarabani, Brad Evans, Brendan Taylor, Craig Ervine, Graeme Cremer, Innocent Kaia, Ernest Masuku, Kundai Matigimu, Newman Nyamhuri, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Tafadzwa Tsiga, Vincent Masekesa, Wellington Masakadza, Wessly Madhevere.
