By Sports Reporter
ALTHOUGH Zimbabwe might have found the going tough during their recent cricket tour of Bangladesh, their talented all-rounder Sean Williams continues to shine individually after being rated the second-best all-rounder in Twenty20 Internationals on the latest ICC player rankings.
According to ICC rankings updated by the global cricket governing body early this week, the 33-year-old left handed batsman and left arm spinner is ranked the second best all-rounder in T20Is behind Mohammad Nabi of Afghanistan who is the finest all-rounder in the game’s shortest format.
Williams, who has played T20Is for Zimbabwe since his debut 14 years ago while scoring 844 runs and claiming 32 wickets, has accumulated 213 rating points.
He still, however, has a lot of work to do to catch up with the top ranked Nabi, who is on 294 rating points.
The Zimbabwean Test captain is ranked above some of the global games’ top players such as Australian star Glen Maxwell, who is ranked third.
Williams has been one of the most consistent players for Zimbabwe in the shortest version of the game which has allowed him to accumulate precious ranking points.
The Bulawayo-born all-rounder however had a subdued outing during the recent two T20Is against Bangladesh where he scored a total of 23 runs while not taking wicket as Zimbabwe were whitewashed 2-0 by the Tigers in the two-match series played in Dhaka.
Despite being the country’s Test captain, Williams was called upon to fulfil that role in four out of the five shorter versions of the game fixtures against Bangladesh.
This was after Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Zimbabwe’s ODI and T20I skipper picked up an injury which saw him play just one match of five matches.
Zimbabwe endured a dismal tour of Bangladesh where they were whitewashed across all three formats of the game by their hosts.
The Tigers convincingly won the lone Test match by an innings and 1-0 runs before Zimbabwe went on to struggle in the three match ODI series which the hosts won 3-0.
The Chevrons will be hoping to redeem themselves when they host Ireland for six limited-overs internationals in April, in Ireland’s first tour of the country since the 2018 ICC World Cup Qualifier.
The tour will comprise three T20 internationals, on 2, 4 and 5 April, followed by three one-day internationals, on 8, 10 and 12 April. All the matches will be played at Bulawayo’s Queens Sports Club.
This will be Ireland’s first bilateral series in Zimbabwe since October 2015. On that occasion, the hosts had prevailed 2-1. Their only other encounter in these conditions, in 2010, also ended with the same margin.
Cricket Ireland, meanwhile, is keeping a close watch on the spread of the coronavirus ahead of the tour.
Zimbabwe and Ireland’s women’s teams recently called off a tour of Thailand over fears around the epidemic.
