The Zimbabwe A cricket team is a national cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 team representing Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

. It is the 'second-tier' of international Zimbabwean cricket, below the full Zimbabwe national cricket team. Matches played by Zimbabwe A are not considered to be Test matches

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 or One Day Internationals, instead receiving first-class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 and List A classification respectively. Zimbabwe A played their first match in January 1994, a four-day first-class contest against the touring South Africa A cricket team

South Africa A cricket team

The South Africa A cricket team is a national cricket team representing South Africa. It is the 'second-tier' of international South African cricket, below the full South Africa national cricket team. Matches played by South Africa A are not considered to be Test matches or One Day...

.

Zimbabwe A have played a number of series, both home and away against other full national teams, national A teams, and competed against other first-class opposition. Their first tour was that of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 in 1995–96. Zimbabwe A team participates in ICC Africa Division 1 that is played as a gateway to ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier

ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier

The ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier is an international Twenty20 cricket tournament run under the auspices of the International Cricket Council. The purpose is to qualify the top Associate Members for the ICC World Twenty20. First ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier was held in 2008 and it was in similar...

. Although Zimbabwe national cricket team is qualified for ICC World Twenty20

ICC World Twenty20

The ICC World Twenty20 or ICC World T20 also referred to as the T20 World Cup is the international championship of Twenty20 cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council...

's as a full member, the team A plays in the Africa division as a supporting team.