The Canada Cup Four Nation Twenty20 tournament has had another change, with the West Indies being replaced by Zimbabwe. The tournament will take place at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City, just north of Toronto, from the 10th to the 13th of October.

The change came about after the West Indies requested the tournament be delayed by two weeks to late October. With the temperature in the Toronto area barely rising above single digits in Celsius at that time of year, the tournament organisers declined the request and have confirmed that Zimbabwe will play instead.

It is the latest modification to a tournament that has seen a multitude of changes since it was first announced three months ago. Originally slated to be a tri-series played in August involving Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies, Canada were added to the mix soon after the original announcement.

Sponsorship issues then meant that the tournament was postponed until October, which clashed with the Bangladesh tour of New Zealand, so Sri Lanka replaced Bangladesh. Now Zimbabwe have replaced the West Indies, which means that Zimbabwe, so unwilling to play against the top associates until now, will play at least five matches against them in the month of October, also playing a tri-series in Nairobi against Kenya and Ireland.

There still could be some problems with Zimbabwe playing though, as the Canadian government introduced sanctions against Zimbabwe only last week. This will prevent a direct flight from Zimbabwe, as the sanctions include a ban on Zimbabwean aircraft in Canadian airspace.

Also, with Canadian cricket on the radar of the government after this years decision to introduce federal funding, will prime minister Steven Harper be all that keen to see a Zimbabwean representative team, selected by an organisation that has Robert Mugabe as its patron, playing in Canada just one day before the general election takes place?