Zimbabwe Cricket Faces Bangladesh

By Perkins-Tino Bare 

Zimbabwe Cricket is in Bangladesh for their series filling up the slot opened up when Australia cancelled their tour due to security concens. The series comprises of 3 ODI`s and 2 T20`s with the first match slated for the 7^th of November. This is the worst time to play Bangladesh as they are in blazing from with the last series having ended in a series whitewash for them.

The skipper Elton Chigumbura is quite happy that they are getting more cricket even though they are not winning while he was quick to downlay that the recent losses signalled the death of our game. “We have been asking for more cricket, This opportunity to play is something we take positively. It is good for our young players to have more cricket on a regular basis. We are happy that we got the go-ahead to play cricket here. Hopefully it will be a good tour for us.” Chigumbura said in an interview with a local daily.

He then went on to stress that it was a new era for the Chevrons as they are looking forward to utilise the young talent that they have at their disposal. “It is not [the death of Zimbabwe cricket]. It is the beginning I think. We have good youngsters who are coming up. It is just a matter of giving them more games. We have a bunch of guys who are positive. Obviously anyone can make those comments. We believe that we have a big future ahead of us”.

“The most important thing is to pick yourself up, and our focus now in Bangladesh is to make sure that we improve from the last series that we played. We must have some positive results. What happened is in the past. We are regrouping and focusing on this tour. Obviously it is different conditions and we are playing against a different team,” Chigumbura said in an inteview with a local daily.

The Chevrons` squad that was sent to Bangladesh is literally the same with the same old faces in the squad. The skipper Elton Chigumbura will lead from the front as Sean Williams looks to continue with his good form. This is going ot be equally as important for Chamu Chibhabha as he has to regain his lost form which saw him recording awfully low figures.

Regis Chakabva is also in the squad as is Richmond Mutumbami which then gives the coaches two options for the wicket-keeper. Considering the mathces we have played I`d opt for Regis Chakabva not necessarily beacuase he is the better keeper but because of his batting. He`s a better batsman than Richmond Mutumbami and one thing I like is that he shows a great understanding with Chamu Chibhabha. Last time he played he came in at 3^rd and his partnership with Chamu was just a marvel to watch. The two showed a brotherly understanding of each other`s game and they rotated the strike well. As for Richmond yes he can bat just as good but he cannot conjure up those partnerships that we have lost many matches on.

Sean Williams and Sikander Raza are expected to strenghthen that middle order as well. Sean Williams is in good form for that but as for Raza it`s still to be seen. Craig Ervine and Elton Chigumbura are also in it as well. The middle order batting line-up looks a bit weak as we only have one batsman being in form. Craig Ervine may have showed glimpses of brilliance and we may still rely on Raza to pull one or two out of the bag but it is still to be seen. The same problem will always be when it comes to our batsmen, partnerships. From the top I`d like to see Regis and Chamu because Regis surely knows how to rotate the strike. He is the kind of guy we need at the top and together with Chamu they can surely come up with something. Now from there lies a bunch of players who are not used to batting together for a long time. Craig Ervine himself is a decent batsman but how many times has he partnered with anyone for a decent partnership?

The batsmen do not reallly hang around a lot from there and those who do are slowly finding it easy to build partnerships. Sean Williams and Sikander Raza are names which pop-up into mind and over the past series we have played they have been able to come up with decent partnerships. Elton Chigumbua has also got himself involved in thhta fix as he has also batted well with both. Well its not really about these awkward pairings as such but the our batsmen need to just learn how to rotate the strike more often and keep the runs ticking on the board. There`s no need for taking those huge risks when we can just play our comfortable game.

On the bowling side it looks set to be good for the spinners. Malcolm Waller and Graema Cremer are expected to lead that relatively young bowling attack. Luke Jongwe and Wellington Masakadza will have a lot on their hands as they set to prove to the selectors that their places were well deserved. Luke Jongwe and John Nyumbu I don`t see them having much problems since the conditions are most likely going to favour spin. This also goes as well for Graeme Cremer who should capuitalise on these conditions if we are to get anything from this tour.

Neville Madziva and Tinashe Panyangara are expected to be leading the pace attack with the young Wellington Masakadza also in the fix. Taurai Muzarabani could also have a go but he will most likely only feature in the T20`s as he`s a bit costly when it comes to the ODI`s. He should then offer guys like Panyangara and Neville who are expected to only open up the bowling but be regualrs throughout the series.

Last time we played Bangladesh we failed to win a single match as it was a series whitewash for Bagladesh. From there on they have not looked back either as they have been able to win against the top playing nations. They have surely capitalise on the home conditions thrashing Pakistan 3-0 and beating India 2-1. Mustafizur Rahman could just bother our batsmen after he had 5-50 against India following that with a 6-63. This is probably the best Bangladesh side and if we are not careful with them the Chevrons will surely get another spanking they won`t be quick to forget.

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