Class counties xi

ICC World Test Championship: Zimbabwe held their first training session in Leicester on Monday since arriving in England for a landmark Test match against the hosts, scheduled to take place at Trent Bridge in Nottingham from May 22 to 25. The one-off fixture marks Zimbabwe’s return to the longest format on English soil for the first time in over two decades.

Before taking on England, Zimbabwe will fine-tune their preparations with a four-day warm-up match against a First-Class Counties XI from May 15 to 18 at the Uptonsteel County Ground in Leicester.

Zimbabwe head coach Justin Sammons said the players were in good spirits following their first training session at their temporary base. “Good day. Obviously, we had a long journey from Harare to Leicestershire. So, you know, Sunday was a day off in terms of our recovery – Curtly (Diesel, the strength and conditioning coach) had the guys switched on to that,” he said.