adminIn an interview on Wednesday on the sidelines of Matabeleland Tuskers-Mashonaland Eagles’ One-Day game at Queens Sports Club, Butcher who is following national team players in the domestic league said there were a lot of inconsistencies with the batsmen.
“What we need are batsmen who will make life difficult for bowlers. From what have I seen, batting inconsistencies expose our bowlers especially when you are at international level where you meet top class batsmen.
“People can’t get enough of big scores and look at Matsikenyeri (Stewart), he has been good there and I would have loved to see him staying longer. But he is out half way the innings. I think overall, our batsmen need maximum concentration and to defend the wickets,” Butcher said.
Most players in the Zimbabwe Cricket Franchises’ League have struggled to protect their wickets, as evidenced by lack of hard hitters.
Unlike in the past where you had a number of batsmen hitting above 50 runs or even centuries, very few players in the domestic league have managed to score big runs. Bowlers have managed to restrict batsmen.
“The bowlers have been fantastic and right now they only need the batting attack to complement their efforts. It’s not that we do not have good batsmen, I think our biggest undoing is lack of concentration.
“It is good that most of the national team players are involved in domestic cricket, but I also want to see more people from outside the national squad putting pressure on those who are in especially on the batting side,” said Butcher.
Last week he watched Eagles take on Midwest Rhinos in Harare and was impressed with national team spin bowler Raymond Price’s performance in the Twenty20 game.
National team high scorers in Wednesday’s match were Matsikenyeri who got 42 runs off 83 balls for Eagles and Graig Ervine’s 42 runs from 45 balls for Tuskers.
Next month the national team will go on a tour of the West Indies and Butcher will have two weeks to prepare the team.
“I would have liked to have more time with the squad but that has not been possible and we have to do our best in the two weeks. I also wanted to play some games but that has not been possible,” said Butcher.
Zimbabwe squad
Brendan Taylor (captain), Regis Chakabva, Tendai Chatara, Mike Chinouya, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Kyle Jarvis, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza, Tinotenda Mawoyo, Keegan Meth, Christopher Mpofu, Natsai M’shangwe, Cuthbert Musoko, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Tinashe Panyangara, Raymond Price, Edward Rainsford, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Prosper Utseya, Brian Vitori, Malcolm Waller, Nathan Waller and Sean Williams
Online Reporter