Top cricket nation in the world to play minnow in a tour of importance.
Australia will be without David Warner, bit coach Darren Lehman said the side to tour cricketing minnows Zimbabwe will be as close to full-strength as possible.
Warner has been given time off ahead of his child being born, but Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland said the rest of the side will take the games very seriously.
“We see it as being a really important lead-in to the big series against Pakistan,” Sutherland said.
“We’re concerned about the challenge of playing Pakistan in the UAE.
“They’re a very good team, who play very well in those conditions, and having had so much time off it’s really important for our guys to get some cricket under their belts.”
Sutherland added he wasn’t aware of anybody else who had requested time off for the Zimbabwe tour.
“There’s obviously a couple of quicks who are under injury clouds, but outside of that if there’s any sort of plans I’m not aware of them at this stage,” he said.
Meanwhile, CA announced that international cricket will return to Canberra’s Manuka Oval this year when Australia host South Africa for an ODI on November 19.
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