Tinashe Kusema-Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE Chevrons’ camp may be forced to call upon chief bowler Blessing Muzarabani when Zimbabwe take on Namibia in a must-win encounter for both sides at the FNB Namibia Cricket Grounds this afternoon.
Muzarabani was rested for the 43-run defeat to South Africa on Tuesday, with Chevrons coach Justin Sammons revealing the decision was made to manage the 29-year-old’s workload.
In his absence, Kundai Matigimu was handed his first international T20 start, and the 28-year-old had a mixed debut.
Matigimu’s two overs went for 29 runs, while he finished unbeaten on 11 runs off six balls with the bat.
“Blessing was rested,” said Sammons.
“Obviously, we have to manage our fast bowlers as there is plenty of cricket ahead and we can’t just bowl him into the ground.
“So it’s really just about load management and keeping him fresh for Thursday’s game,” he said.
The gamble to rest Muzarabani backfired for the Chevrons, as the loss put them on the brink of missing out on Sunday’s final.
South Africa have one foot in the final after Lhuandre Pretorius finished just six runs short of his first T20I century to push them to 185 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.
Pretorius and Jordan Hermann shared an opening partnership of 68 runs, before an 86-run second-wicket stand between Pretorius and Dewald Brevis set South Africa up for an unassailable score.
Zimbabwe have been struggling at both ends and were seriously exposed by the absence of Muzarabani, as their bowling lacked structure without him.
Their fielding was lethargic as they dropped Pretorius on 57, which proved costly, even though it was not to blame for the result.
Zimbabwe must look to their batting to rescue them, having relied heavily on good starts from the opening pair of Ben Curran and Brian Bennett, while lacking in the middle order.
Both Curran and Bennett were dismissed early against South Africa, and Zimbabwe were unable to recover.
They lost eight wickets for 66 runs, while skipper Sikandar Raza’s 45 off 33 balls ensured their total climbed past 100.
They inevitably finished 43 runs short.
But more importantly, all of this has not gone unnoticed, with Sammons expressing concern over his charges’ lack of consistency.
“We have been good in certain phases of the game,” said the Chevrons gaffer.
“We have been really good, and then, in other phases, we have been really, really bad.
“It seems like we can’t string together a full innings with both bat and ball.
“So that has been a concern, but obviously within those good phases there have been real positives.
“We could see lessons taken from the game on Monday into the game on Tuesday, especially with the death bowling where we were under pressure against Namibia.
“We really pulled things back brilliantly against South Africa and only got ourselves back into the game.
“I think it was a very chasable target, but we lost too many wickets and put ourselves under too much pressure from that point of view.
“If we had managed to get through certain phases of the game unscathed, then we would have had a real shot at chasing that target down.” The 43-run defeat to South Africa has left Zimbabwe in a difficult position, as their net run rate of -1.691 could affect their chances of qualifying for the final.
Zimbabwe have one match left to play, against Namibia today, while South Africa already have one foot in Sunday’s final.
The Proteas have a game to play but have pulled away from the other two teams on the points table.
Namibia, on the other hand, will have two bites of the cherry as they face Zimbabwe and South Africa today and tomorrow, respectively.
“It’s certainly a must-win game,” added Sammons on today’s clash against Namibia.
“However, it is also a great position to be in, as we want to see our guys perform under pressure.
