Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema-Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE Zimbabwe Under-19 cricketers spent the better part of their day glued to their gadgets and screens, monitoring the progress of their group rivals who were playing at Takashinga Cricket yesterday.
In-between practice, both players and the technical team had one eye on the weather and another on the match between England and Scotland.
By the end of the first innings, top-order batter Ben Mayers’ 191 runs off 117 balls had powered England to an unassailable 404 runs for six, an innings that saw the 18-year-old write his name into the history books.
Mayers broke the record for most runs from fours (18) and sixes (8) in an innings for England Under-19s in Youth One Day Internationals.
He also wrote himself into Zimbabwe folklore as his performance saw England crush Scotland by 252 runs and reignited the hosts’ hopes of progressing to the Super Six stage of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
Now, Zimbabwe will have destiny in their own hands when they walk onto the pitch for their match against Pakistan this morning.
“Yeah, we were closely monitoring the game (Scotland v England), watching both as a team and individually,” said Zimbabwe captain Simbarashe Mudzengerere.
“I think it is a good result for us, for Scotland to lose by a big margin.
“That lowers their net run rate, just in case it rains tomorrow (today).
“Now, it’s up to us to show up and try to actually win our game,” he said.
The Scotland result is only half the job, as Zimbabwe now have to perform better.
The weather, once again, could still have a say, with the forecast not really painting a good picture.
It is expected to be cloudy today with temperatures ranging from a high of 27 to a low of 16 degrees Celsius.
Rains are, however, only expected tomorrow and Saturday with high chances of thunder and lightning.
Unfortunately, the weather is only the beginning of Zimbabwe’s problems as their batting and bowling has been blowing hot and cold over the last couple of weeks.
In Pakistan, they also face an all too familiar foe as the two sides had met a total of four times before the World Cup actually began.
The Asians, however, carry a slight psychological advantage over the hosts as their last meeting in the Youth One Day International Tri-series final turned out to be a one-sided affair. Pakistan cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Zimbabwe.
However, Mudzengerere believes that familiarity could, instead, work in their favour.
The skipper said that his charges have put in the work and will come prepared this morning.
“We have played against them (Pakistan) a couple of times, and I think we have a pretty good idea of their strengths and weaknesses.
“That gives us somewhere to start as we now know the way they play.
“That is sure to work in our favour and even give us the advantage,” he said.
Among the problem areas the Zimbabwe camp have been working on over the last couple of days is the batting, which was seriously exposed during their last match against England.
While there were glimpses of improvements from their previous outings, the Zimbabwe batters once again failed to convert their good starts into match-winning innings.
“The guys have been putting in the work, especially the bowlers who have been perfecting their line and lengths,” he said.
“The batting is also looking good.
“We just have to work on a few areas with the biggest weakness being that they are not giving themselves time to get in the game and construct a proper innings.
“We remain confident that we can still get the job done.
“We just have to stick to the basics and just execute our plans properly.
“The nerves have disappeared, and we are now ready,” he said.
