Chevrons hold first training session

Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE men’s cricket team held their first training session Down Under at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday ahead of their first warm up match of the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup which starts next week Monday.

The Chevrons were meant to play their first warm up match against Sri Lanka yesterday but the match had to be moved to today with the ICC giving a change in Zimbabwe’s travel itinerary as the reason the date was altered.

Zimbabwe therefore used the opportunity to have a light training session as they get themselves up to Australian conditions with the new bowling coach, Steve Kirby.

Head coach, Dave Houghton said the spirit in the camp is good and the success of the last three months which saw the team win a white ball series against Bangladesh, coming close to winning against India and a historic win in Australia can be attributed to the mood in the camp.

“Nothing builds a team spirit more than winning and we have had quite a lot of success in the last three months so we have got very good spirits, my hardest job today was calming guys down and just getting those anxieties those nerves out of the way,” said Houghton in an interview.

After the match against Sri Lanka today, the Chevrons will then face Namibia in their final warm up match before their World Cup journey resumes.

Zimbabwe are in Group B of the global showpiece alongside Ireland, Scotland and the West Indies and the Chevrons will start their campaign against Ireland followed by West Indies and Scotland.

The other group has Namibia, Netherlands, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates. The top two sides from both groups will make it to the Super 12.

The warm-up fixtures for teams who have direct entries in the Super 12s will be played at two venues in Brisbane – the Gabba and the Allan Border Field – on October 17 and 19.