| Series: | 2018 Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series |
| Date: | 1–8 July 2018 |
| Place: | Zimbabwe |
| Result: | won the series |
| Player Of Series: | Fakhar Zaman (Pak)[1] |
| Captain1: | Aaron Finch |
| Captain2: | Sarfaraz Ahmed |
| Captain3: | Hamilton Masakadza |
| Runs1: | Aaron Finch (306)[2] |
| Runs2: | Fakhar Zaman (278) |
| Runs3: | Solomon Mire (212) |
| Wickets1: | Andrew Tye (12)[3] |
| Wickets2: | Mohammad Amir Shadab Khan (5) |
| Wickets3: | Blessing Muzarabani (5) |
The 2018 Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series was a cricket tournament held from 1 to 8 July 2018 in Zimbabwe.[4] It was a tri-nation series between Australia, Pakistan and Zimbabwe, with all the matches played as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) at the Harare Sports Club.[5] [6] In the fourth T20I, Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by seven wickets, therefore Australia and Pakistan qualified for the final.[7] Pakistan defeated Australia in the final by six wickets to win the series.[8]
Originally, the tour was just going to feature Australia and Zimbabwe, with the two teams playing two Tests and three One Day Internationals (ODIs).[9] [10] In June 2018, the Zimbabwe team threatened to boycott the tour in a dispute over outstanding money that had not been paid to players.[11] Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) paid one of the three months' worth of outstanding salaries, with the players giving ZC the deadline of 25 June 2018 to pay the rest, or face a boycott.[12] However, despite not being paid, the players are likely to call off the protest and play in the series,[13] but the demand for the outstanding salaries payment deadline remains in place.[14] Zimbabwe Cricket assured players that all the outstanding salaries would be paid by 25 July 2018, one month after the players' deadline.[15] A few days later, Zimbabwe Cricket named a 22-man preliminary squad for the series, which was trimmed down to a final seventeen players.[16] Zimbabwe did not initially name a captain, after Graeme Cremer was sacked following the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament. A day before the first match, Hamilton Masakadza was named as Zimbabwe's captain.[17]
After the first T20I, Kyle Jarvis was ruled out for the series due to injury and was replaced by Donald Tiripano in Zimbabwe's squad.[21]