daniel chigunwe
Don Makanyanga
Sports Reporter
LADY CHEVRONS coach Walter Chawaguta wants the senior women cricket team to have a winning habit as they finalise preparations for the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup global qualifiers later this month.
Coming from a historic gold medal win at the African Games last month and a recent series win against visiting Papua New Guinea, Chawaguta is expecting his charges to carry on with the winning momentum going into the ICC T20 World Cup qualifiers in Abu Dhabi at the end of the month.
“Winning is important because when a team stays in that winning zone everyone in the group starts to believe (as individuals) they can pull out match winning performances.
“It is a habit that we need to develop that if all the 11 players act like match winners, no matter what situation the team may be in, the belief will remain intact and we can get the results,” said the Lady Chevrons.
Zimbabwe are set to battle it out with nine other countries for the two remaining slots at the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup to be held in Bangladesh later this year.
The Lady Chevrons are grouped in Group of the global qualifiers together with Ireland, Sri-Lanka, Netherlands and Vanuatu.
The top teams from the two groups will proceed to the semi-finals.
Winners from the semi-finals automatically secure a place at the World Cup.
And having been on a winning streak of late, Chawaguta is hoping the team will transform the recent winning performance into a habit.
“As I always say, winning is a habit.
“We are learning to find ways to win and it’s good to see that happening this close to the qualifiers and we hope it (winning) becomes a habit as we go to the qualifiers,” said Chawaguta.
As Chawaguta dreams for a winning habit, batting, especially chasing remains the biggest worry for the 51-year old coach.
“We have discussed the issue of chasing and are all in agreement that we are guilty of overthinking when it comes to set targets.
“We bat with a lot of freedom when setting because we are focusing on the process but when we chase we take our eyes off the process and we focus on the target. That’s a mistake.
“We are working on improving the process, whether chasing or setting,” said Chawaguta.
Having highlighted batting as one of the team’s weakness, Chawaguta is pinning for an improved performance from the batters as he welcomes the return of senior players to the squad ahead of the qualifiers
“We have witnessed a boost in our batting resources with the comeback of Chipo Mugeri from injury as she is set to strengthen our top order then we have Sharne Mayers who didn’t play in the Papua
New Guinea. She is a good batter, we are hoping for match winning performances from her,” said Chawaguta.
On the bowling front the coach is satisfied with her personnel.
“Our bowlers have been good and disciplined and I hope they will maintain this form throughout the Qualifiers,” said Chawaguta.
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