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ZIMBABWE national senior men’s cricket team captain, Craig Ervine, has described the inclusion of former England national team batter, Gary Ballance, into the team to face Ireland as a valuable addition to the side.
Ballance is set to make his debut for Zimbabwe in the first of three T20 Internationals against Ireland that start today at Harare Sport Club after his sensational return to his country of birth a month ago.
With Sikandar Raza, Regis Chakabva, Blessing Muzarabani and Milton Shumba unavailable, Ballance is expected to play a leading role in the Chevrons’ batting line-up.
And Ervine is confident that Ballance will bring stability to the batting order.
“We are missing a couple of guys like Raza and Muzarabani, and this creates opportunities for other guys and we have the addition of Ballance. I am positive and confident that he will add quite a bit of stability to our batting line up.
“He (Ballance) has played games for England and I am pretty sure that he will like the rest of the squad and impart the knowledge he has acquired over the years to the younger players.
“He will play a huge part in the squad and also in the batting line-up. Everybody is looking forward to seeing the differences he brings to us,” said Ervine.
Ervine has rallied his players to continue with the momentum they had from last year’s T20 Cricket World Cup held in Australia.
“We have created a fair bit of momentum behind us towards the backend of last year, so going into this series is going to be another case of building on that momentum and starting the new year on the right footing,” said Ervine.
Zimbabwe beat Ireland by 31 runs in last year’s World Cup, and Ervine is aware of the challenge the Irish pose.
“Ireland is a side that is extremely dangerous on their day and they had a good campaign at the World Cup, so it will be a competitive series which everyone is looking forward to,” said Ervine.
Online Reporter