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The Zimbabwe side are due to leave for Canada today, but there's confusion over whether the proper visa paperwork is in place to allow the side to travel. CricInfo reports that the Canadian Embassy in Harare has yet to issue visa, citing Canadian government reluctance to allow sporting ties with Zimbabwe at present; but organisers of the Canada Cup maintain that visas were issued on October 3rd (Friday past) and that the team will be travelling as planned. We'll know for sure soon enough, but if true it's disappointing to see politics raise its head again. It's understood that Bermuda are on standby to replace Zimbabwe should the team be unable to take part.
CricInfo - Confusion over Zimbabwe visas

The schedule has been released for the Canada Cup Four Nations Twenty20 competition, and the sides will face off as follows:

10 October 2008         Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe
10 October 2008         Canada v Pakistan
11 October 2008         Canada v Zimbabwe
11 October 2008         Sri Lanka v Pakistan
12 October 2008         Pakistan v Zimbabwe
12 October 2008         Canada v Sri Lanka
13 October 2008         Final

Zimbabwe got their first Twenty20 win under their belts with a 5-wicket victory over Scotland on Sunday. After winning the toss and electing to field, Zimbabwe restricted Scotland to 155/6 from their alotted overs, with captain Ryan Watson top-scoring with 64 not-out. Zimbabwe started well in reply, with Vusi Sibanda putting on 42 and Chamu Chibhabha scoring 43 as Zim successfully chased their target, scoring the winning runs with 7 balls to spare. A better performance for Zimbabwe this time out, then, although it was against weaker opposition - and Scotland's preparations for the tournament (or lack of them) have hardly been ideal, either. Full scorecard below the cut - Zim's first group match is on Wednesday (12th), against the mighty Australia.
Scotland 155/6 (20 overs; Watson 64*, Brent 1/20), Zimbabwe 156/5 (18.5 overs; Chibhabha 43, Haq 2/29). Zimbabwe win by 5 wickets.

Zimbabwe came unstuck in their first T20WC warm-up match against Pakistan on Saturday, with Umar Gil doing a lot of the damage thanks to a 4-over spell where he took 3/11. Pakistan had shown some early wobbles batting first, being 2/28 at one point, but Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik steadied the innings and helped Pakistan on their way to a total of 181/6 from their 20 overs. In reply, Zim lost Vusi Sibanda and Chamu Chibhabha with the score on 16 - Tatenda Taibu and Hamilton Masakadza added 76 for the 3rd wicket, but Zimbabwe's innings quickly unravelled once Taibu was dismissed, with the remaining 5 wickets falling for just 35 runs on the board, handing Pakistan an 54-run win. Not the best of starts for Zimbabwe, and they'll need to do much better if they're to have any chance of pulling off an upset against England or Australia. Full scorecard below the cut.
Pakistan 181/6 (20 overs; Shoaib Malik 64*, Chigumbura 3/24), Zimbabwe 127/8 (20 overs; Masakadza 41, Umar Gul 3/11). Pakistan win by 54 runs.