The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday announced that the 2027 men’s Cricket World Cup will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
It will be the first time that the 50-over tournament, which is held every four years, will be held on the African continent since 2003.
In 2003, venues in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya were used to host the prestigious event.
Reacting to the announcement, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani said:
This is fantastic news, coming after we worked hard and with determination as a group to get the World Cup back on our soil.
And this is clearly a vote of confidence in what we as Zimbabwe Cricket are doing and in what we as Africa can do.
We are humbled by the trust the ICC has placed in our bid and thrilled by the opportunity we have been given to put cricket on a new and sustainable path for generations to come.
On our part, we are ready to ensure the ICC men’s Cricket World Cup 2027 stands out as a unique event that celebrates Africa in all its magnificent splendour, richness, vibrancy, diversity and glory.
The 2003 tournament was slightly overshadowed by England and New Zealand refusing to travel to play in Zimbabwe and Kenya respectively because of security concerns.
Despite those refusals, Pakistan, Netherlands, Australia, India and Namibia all played in Zimbabwe while Sri Lanka travelled to face Kenya in Nairobi.
Recently Zimbabwe successfully hosted the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, having already been given the rights to stage the same qualifiers for the next edition next year.