Zimbabwe Cricket still reeling from their inability to qualify for the World Cup and the sacking of the organization's entire coaching staff, will host Australia and Pakistan in July for a T20I triangular tournament and then Pakistan for five ODIs. Neither country will play a Test in Zimbabwe, although the FTP had Australia penciled in for one Test and Pakistan for two, further underlining ZC's desire to restructure and avoid costly home Tests.

"Playing two of the game's biggest teams will provide us with a very welcome litmus test as we forge ahead with our plans to develop a stronger Zimbabwe side capable of consistently competing and winning against the best," Faisal Hasnain, Zimbabwe Cricket MD said.

ZC held a press conference on Tuesday to outline its plans for the resumption of domestic cricket - the 2018-19 season was not concluded as World Cup qualifier preparations began earlier this year - as well as plans for an academy. But the issue of coaching staff was not on the agenda. They would need to attend to the allocation of backroom staff with haste if Zimbabwe are to play international cricket again three months time.

The prospect of the tours of Australia and Pakistan being curtailed has been looming large for months given the financial state of Zimbabwean cricket, and matters came to a head with the country's failure to qualify for the 2019 World Cup set to hit them hard in the pocket. In February, there was doubt over the fate of Pakistan's tour to the country, with ZC's managing director Faisal Hasnain saying as much.