adminICC Cricket World Cup finalists New Zealand are expected in the country Thursday ahead of their three-match One-day International and one-off Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe’s Chevrons.
Their Zimbabwean sojourn is the first leg of an Africa tour that will also see the Black Caps battling South Africa.
New Zealand have named a strong squad for the tour, much to the delight of Zimbabwe coach Dav Whatmore, who is eager to see how well his boys do against some of the world’s top cricket nations.
“We are a work in progress and every tour brings us much closer to our goal,” said Whatmore. “I am extremely happy we managed to win our last game against India; it’s always important to embark on a new adventure on the backdrop of success.”
Whatmore has retained the majority of the players that faced India.
“If I had the money, I would fly in every player from wherever they might be,” said a clearly jovial Whatmore. “No, seriously, I am very happy with the players I have in camp. If you remember we didn’t really trim the squad, but instead, chose to select a 15-man squad on match-by-match basis. This means we still have a huge crop of players to choose from in camp.”
This is good news for the duo of Vusi Sibanda and Charles Coventry.
Sibanda was dropped from the T20 series against India due to poor form and is still in contention for the one-dayers, while Coventry failed to make a lasting impression in that same series.
Coventry could only score 14 runs, with a best of 10, while Sibanda finished with a paltry 22 runs from the first two ODIs.
As far as injury goes, Whatmore is confident that both skipper Elton Chigumbura and seamer Tinashe Panyangara will feature against New Zealand.
“Elton (Chigumbura) suffered a hamstring injury, but I’ve been told it is not as severe as we initially thought. He should be fit to face New Zealand. Panyangara is already back training,” he said.
Online Reporter