Graeme Cremer, the Zimbabwe leg-spinner, will miss the upcoming away series against South Africa and Bangladesh following a knee surgery, it was confirmed on Sunday, 2 September.
Cremer has struggled with problems in his right knee for a while, and went under the knife recently. His last bit of action was in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 at home, in the Super Sixes match against the United Arab Emirates, which Zimbabwe lost by three runs (DLS method).
Anesu Mupotaringa, Zimbabwe team physiotherapist, explained Cremer’s situation: “Following months of knee discomfort and pain, with conservative interventions failing to bring relief from the symptoms, Cremer finally went for knee surgery on the 23rd of August.
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“The surgery went well and Cremer is now recovering well at home. We are looking at minimum six-eight weeks before he can return to action, which definitely rules him out of the South Africa and Bangladesh tours.”
However, Zimbabwe have received a lift ahead of the tours with the return of top-order dasher Solomon Mire and pacer Kyle Jarvis, who both missed the one-day international series at home against Pakistan in July because of injuries.
Both Mire and Jarvis picked up injuries during the Twenty20 International tri-series against Australia and Pakistan and, as a result, they missed the following ODIs against the latter in July.
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Mire went into the tri-series nursing an ankle injury before he sustained a gluteal tear in Zimbabwe’s last game against Australia, while Jarvis fractured his right thumb while fielding during the first game.
“Mire has now fully recovered from his ankle injury while his gluteal is now strong following successful rehab. He will be ready for our South Africa and Bangladesh tours,” Mupotaringa said.
“Jarvis is recovering very well following his second operation on his fractured thumb in Cape Town. He has now started doing light bowling and batting drills with the team and we hope he will be ready for South Africa.”
Elsewhere, Carl Mumba, the 23-year-old pacer who last featured in an international game in July 2017, will also return to action after recovering from a long spell out. Mumba fractured his knee during an ODI against Sri Lanka in Hambantota in July last year and hasn’t played since.
“It was good to see Mumba back on the cricket ground training with the rest of the squad. He had a major knee ligament reconstruction surgery six months ago and we will continue to monitor him closely and see how he comes through,” Mupotaringa said.
