Craig Ervine ruled out due to calf injury and is subsequently ruled out of the ODI series against Sri Lanka.
Craig Ervine ruled out of ODI series against Sri Lanka with calf strain.
On the eve of the opening game, which was played at Harare Sports Club on Friday, Craig Ervine, the designated captain of Zimbabwe, suffered a calf injury that has forced him out of the ODI series against Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe will be led by Sean Williams while he is away.
An MRI scan revealed that Ervine had sustained a Grade II strain in his left calf and a chronic and resolving Grade I strain in his right calf, which occurred on Thursday.
Ervine, 40, is a vital component of Zimbabwe’s batting lineup and one of the team’s more seasoned players. In recent years, he has missed a few games of cricket due to injuries, but his most recent absence occurred during a Test match against Ireland in February 2025 so that he could be with his wife when their child was born. Williams also missed that Test due to a back injury, but both players were able to return to the team for the April–May home Test series in Bangladesh. That series against Ireland was his final ODI outing.
Although Ervine’s absence is a setback for Zimbabwe, it coincides with the return of Brendan Taylor, one of the top batsmen in the past ten years, to the format as part of his three-year suspension for corruption-related crimes. Taylor has amassed 11 hundreds in 203 innings in this style, which has been his finest over the years.
In his 15-year international career, Ervine has participated in 128 One-Day Internationals (ODIs), amassing 1926 runs at an average of 33.78 and recording four hundreds, including his highest of 130 not out, against New Zealand in Harare in 2015.