Zimbabwe Cricket will open their Africa Cup T20 campaign with a clash against Free State in East London next month.

The fixtures for the whole tournament were finalised on Wednesday by the host board, Cricket South Africa.

Zimbabwe, making their second appearance, are in Group C alongside Border, Easterns and Free State with all teams based at Buffalo Park Cricket Ground in East London from September 9-11.

Zimbabwe’s first game starts at 1245 hours on September 9 with the second game set for the 10^thagainst Border 1630 hours. The last game will be against Easterns on the 11^th starting at 0945 hours.

The other groups A, B and D will be based in Pietermaritzburg (September 2-4), Oudtshoorn (September 16-18) and Paarl (September 23-25) respectively.

The group winners will automatically qualify for the semi-finals to be played on September 30 whilst the final will be on October 1 at venues to be advised by CSA.

The prize money for this Africa Cup T20 R300 000.

Last year, Zimbabwe captained by Malcolm Waller as President’s XI, failed to progress through to the knockout stage after claiming one win against Western Province.

The other two games, Zimbabwe lost to defending champions Northerns while the other against Easterns was a no result.

The Zimbabwe President’s XI squad at the inaugural edition included 10 national team players in addition to Waller.

Other national players were Peter Moor, Richmond Mutumbami, Wellington Masakadza, Donald Tiripano, John Nyumbu, Taurai Muzarabani, Tino Mutombodzi, Luke Jongwe and Neville Madziva.

Tournament draw

Pool A: KZN Inland, Namibia, Western Province, North West (Pietermaritzburg Oval, Pietermaritzburg)                  

Pool B: South Western Districts, Northerns, Northern Cape, Kenya (Recreation Ground, Oudtshoorn)

Pool C: Border, Easterns, Free State, Zimbabwe (Buffalo Park Cricket Ground, East London)

Pool D:  Boland, KZN, Eastern Province, Gauteng, (Boland Park, Paarl)