Defeat leaves Mangongo deflated

Jeffrey Murimbechi Sports Correspondent
ZIMBABWE national cricket team assistant coach Stephen Mangongo was shattered by the team’s embarrassing four-wicket loss against Hong Kong in an ICC Twenty20 World Cup warm-up match in Chittagong on Wednesday. Mangongo said failure to execute fundamentals on the field cost them the game against the minnows.

Zimbabwe is a full member Test playing nation while Hong Kong is one of the minnows of the game in the world. Mangongo was appalled by the multiple errors that were made on the field.

“It was really disappointing to lose to Hong Kong in a tightly-contested match where, from the last ball of the day, they needed one run to win and we’ve got ourselves to blame,” said Mangongo. “If we drop catches and field badly then we should not expect to win in a Twenty20 encounter.

“It was a horrendous day on the field where we dropped four catches along with fielding fumbles. All in all I think we gave away about 10 to 15 runs on the field.

“It is very difficult to understand this after all the hard work the guys have been putting, we had extra fielding sessions where we spent long hours taking catches and the guys dropped catches when it mattered most on the field.

“That is what happens with pressure, in game scenarios you are put under pressure and you will make mistakes, I believe that our guys did not keep their composure and dropped those catches under lights.”

Losing to minnows such as Hong Kong, at the World Cup, should come as a reality check for players who spent weeks staging running boardroom battles with their leaders over payments and engaging in a series of strikes that brought the domestic game to a standstill.
Their poor preparations reflected themselves on the field as captain Brendan Taylor used eight bowlers.

He allowed Prosper Utseya to bowl all his four overs through when a more rational option was to reserve his last at the end of the innings.
“We haven’t played under lights in two years and it was our first time to play a day/night game and perhaps the guys were affected by that because they had not practiced under lights.