daniel chigunwe
Don Makanyanga
Sports Reporter
AFTER a disappointing outing in their training camp that left tongues wagging in Namibia, Zimbabwe’s Chevrons are out to avenge the series defeat against the Eagles as they begin the T20 World Cup qualification today in a seven-team tournament in Windhoek.
The qualifying tournament in Namibia will decide two spots at the global event.
New Chevrons captain (T20s) Sikandar Raza said they are prepared for the challenge.
“We have done a lot of hard work prior to this and I don’t think a hard net session or anything will make much of a difference.
“We have done a lot of hard work back home, we were here a couple of weeks ago, so we now understand the conditions much better.
“But, more importantly for me, the boys are mentally very much ready and up for the challenge that lies ahead for Zimbabwe,” he said after yesterday’s final session.
He also spoke of the challenges brought by captaincy.
“Captaincy is big honour individually but also comes with a massive responsibility and I have spoken to the boys as well about the challenges, about the way we want to play and about the way I want to carry myself and the team forward and the promises we have made to one another.”
Raza wants the Chevrons to be clinical.
“We have worked so hard — yes, there is pressure but there is nothing wrong with pressure — and no matter what we put in our training, for me tomorrow is show-time.
“Every game I am expecting a fighting performance and that will look after the result itself — a 100 percent effort from each and every person and in every department.
“We have played qualifiers too many times and we know the pressure of a qualifier. We all understand what’s at stake here and everybody is ready for it. So, tomorrow and for all the six games, you will see a lot of fight, a lot of desire, a lot of passion.” Chevrons coach Dave Houghton, would want to put the series defeat behind them as they begin their quest to qualify for the next edition of the T20 World Cup to be hosted by the West Indies and the United States in June 2024.
“The last Namibian tour caused a lot of comments from people, our fans and from everyone else.
“And no one really understood the true value of that tour; that tour I organised with the coach of Namibia as a practice tour.
“I had no intention other than going to practice and look at the facilities,” said Houghton.
The Chevrons begin their campaign with a date against the hosts Namibia today.
And Houghton believes that the recent five-match T20 series gave them an opportunity to know what to expect against the hosts.
“We have more knowledge of their team than they have of ours because they played their best team against us three weeks ago,” said Houghton. He added that they are aiming to win all their matches in this seven-team tournament.
“We’re going there to win; win every game and win it properly,” said Houghton.
Zimbabwe face-off with a host of cricket lightweights that include Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and hosts Namibia.
With Houghton targeting to win all the matches, Chevrons bowling coach Steve Kirby feels the strongest challenge in the qualifiers could come from Namibia.
“I think Namibia are a really, really strong team.
“We know what we’re going to get against Namibia. We know they’re a well drilled team. We know they’re strong in the field. We know they’ve got three or four decent batters and they’ve got some really well-disciplined bowlers.
“We now know what we’ve got to come up against and we practiced very accurately and accordingly. Fingers crossed. Hopefully, we’re there to take the win that we know that we deserve,” said Kirby.
“There are other teams there that are going to come well drilled. We will be on point. I can absolutely and categorically assure everybody that the way that we’re training, we’re leaving no stone unturned. We don’t take anybody lightly,” said Kirby.
Namibia have a strong team for the qualifiers. They turned to experienced all-rounder David Wiese for the ICC T20 World Cup Africa Qualifying tournament.
Wiese last represented Namibia at the T20 World Cup in Australia in October last year, but he has remained active since then, playing for various international T20 franchises.
He recently played in The Hundred franchise tournament in England for the Northern Superchargers, alongside top international players like Tom Banton and Harry Brook of England, and Wayne Parnell of South Africa, where he had a top score of 54 not out.
The 38-year-old Wiese will certainly add experience and depth to the squad in both the batting and bowling departments, where competition for places will be strong.
Amongst the top-order batters, Niko Davin and Michael van Lingen were both in fine form during the recent T20 series victory against Zimbabwe in Windhoek last month.
Zimbabwe squad: Sikandar Raza, (captain), Ryan Burl, Tendai Chatara, Craig Ervine, Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Carl Mumba, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Nicholas Welch, Sean Williams
Namibia Squad: Gerhard Erasmus (captain), JJ Smit (vice-captain), Zane Green, Michael van Lingen, Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Helao Ya France, Shaun Fouche, Ben Shikongo, Tangeni Lungameni, Niko Davin, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, Malan Kruger, Bernard Scholtz, JP Kotze.
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