Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema-Zimpapers Sports Hub
IN the ideal world, Zimbabwe would cruise to a whitewash victory over Sri Lanka in the upcoming white ball series, with the hosts sweeping the upcoming cricket One Day International series.
At least that is the gospel according to national senior team batting coach Dion Ebrahim.
Despite their woeful showings, Ebrahim believes in his Chevrons.
“Ideally, we want to take the One-Dayers 2-0 and the T20s, maybe, 3-0,” said Ebrahim.
“If I had a crystal ball, I would tell you exactly how each game pans out.
“We are preparing as well as we can and ensuring that the guys can walk out there confidently to execute their skills,” he said.
Ebrahim would, however, be the first to admit that the batting department has been the team’s biggest weakness.
This follows dismal performances, albeit in a completely different format, against Bangladesh, England, South Africa and New Zealand.
Despite some record low scoring against their recent Test assignments, Ebrahim has defended his charges.
“Look, I think it’s easy to criticise the batting because it’s always an infinite skill, isn’t it?
“If you make a bad decision, you get out and you get dismissed.
“If you bowl a bad ball, you often get hit for runs and your innings prolongs.
“So, I think the batting has come under a lot of scrutiny over the last few months because these are not the performances that we want to put up.
“By the same token, I think it’s important to realise the opposition that we have faced in terms of some of the world’s best-seen bowlers.
“We have sat down as a team and stressed the importance of each individual remembering how good they are in terms of what their strengths are and how they can best perform out in the middle.
“We have been stressing how important it is that they are able to replicate the confidence and form that they have in nets or in domestic cricket and take it out into the middle,” he said.
On the return of the opening duo of Ben Curran and Brian Bennett, Ebrahim said, “It’s a very big boost.
“They have had several good opening partnerships together and understand and complement each other really well being a left-hander and a right-hander.
“Their styles are slightly different, so it’s always good to have them back.
“It’s been a while between playing the ODI formats, so I guess it’s important that they start the series really well.
“So far, they are looking really good but I try not to read too much into the net form.
“The most important thing is can they transfer what they are doing in nets into what they are doing in the middle?
“I think we will have to assess them properly over the next two games,” he said.
Ebrahim spent the bigger part of the week preparing his charges for the spin challenges that they will face against Sri Lanka.
He even brought in former Zimbabwe skipper and leg spinner Graeme Cremer to lend a helping hand.
“Yeah, we have been trying to cover all our bases,” he said.
“From a batting perspective; it has been mostly about knowing and preparing for the opposition that we are likely to face and the skills that we are likely to come across.
“In terms of preparation, we couldn’t have asked for any more or anything better.
“I think it’s easy to say that we struggle against spin but the truth of the matter is that we struggle against high-quality bowling, whether it be pace, seam or spin.
“So, we have been preparing in order to understand what threats they possess and we have been trying to formulate and come up with adequate and successful game plans.
“The set targets now are, obviously, to try and win the series first and foremost.
“We want to ensure that we can turn things around from a performance point of view and a confidence point of view.
“We will try to transfer all the good work and hard work that we have been doing in the nets and training and take it out there and put in strong winning performances.
