admin
THERE was a bit of a stir when Zimbabwe finally unveiled their men’s T20 Cricket World Cup kit, just a few days out from their first game of the tournament, against Ireland today.
The crimson red had been replaced by a fiery yellow, with an image of the bird that symbolises an independent Zimbabwe. That bird isn’t a phoenix, but, in that orange against the clear yellow, it looks almost aflame, ready to rise from the ashes.
Which is perhaps apt. Because just four months ago, it looked like Zimbabwe wouldn’t need to design a World Cup kit at all. They had just played T20I series at home against Namibia and Afghanistan, and lost both. And at the World Cup qualifiers, one loss could have put paid to their chances. Their chances of getting to the tournament were iffy. But they made it.
No player’s fortune embodies what Zimbabwe cricket went through in this time — both the nadir and the rebirth — as well as Brad Evans’. Evans, the 25-year-old fast bowler, made his debut against Namibia in May. With Zimbabwe losing the final two games of that series, it would perhaps have felt more like a hazing ceremony than an induction.
“As a Zimbabwe side, we are starting almost from rock bottom,” he tells ESPNcricinfo. “When I joined, we lost to Namibia in a five-match T20 series. That’s rock bottom.”
He doesn’t want to talk much about his time under former coach Lalchand Rajput, pointing out that he wasn’t there long enough to form a nuanced opinion. But when he speaks about Dave Houghton’s arrival, he sits up in his chair. The eyes sparkle; the contrast he draws need not be put into words.
“Forget the cricket. The changing room between the two series that I played is such a different place. It’s jovial, guys are making jokes. It’s just a happier place,” Evans said. “The only thing that Dave has come in and done is said, ‘Guys, I don’t care if you get out, but I want you to play your shots’. So you’ll see someone play a terrible shot and you’ll think, ‘Oh, my god, what do you think the coach is going to say to him?’
“But Dave will actually just ask him about his thought process and say, ‘Maybe try this next time; but I like the way you batted today’. That gives that same guy the freedom to go out next time and still try and express himself. He doesn’t hammer guys for getting things wrong because at the end of the day, we’re all human.”
Comparisons with Bazball are easily drawn, even though Houghton, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo, had declined to get into them, saying Brendon McCullum “was a slightly bigger player doing it with a slightly bigger side”.
But in the last three months under him, Zimbabwe have scorched their way through the World Cup qualifiers, beaten Bangladesh in T20I and ODI series, come within inches of a win against India, and won a first-ever ODI in Australia.
Evans was part of three of those four campaigns, taking five wickets in an ODI against India and hitting the winning runs off Mitchell Starc in Townsville. “I was quite disappointed, though, because we needed one to win and I hit the ball and it went for four. But because we ran the single, they only gave me one,” he says in mock frustration. “No one’s going to even know that I cover-drove Mitchell Starc for four.”
Such excitability would have been unthinkable in May. The confidence — the swagger, even — this purple patch has bred, streams through in everything Evans says about his still-new international career. While Houghton’s decades-long experience meant he was content to play it down gently, Evans’ youthful exuberance allows him to play up Zimbabwe’s World Cup chances.
“If you have 11 guys being aggressive, the chances are two or three of them are going to come off on any given day,” he says. “And the day that five or six guys come off on a day, we’re going to beat anyone in the world.”
A pause follows that statement, but Evans ends it by doubling down. “Honestly, we’re not untalented cricketers. Everyone can play a cover drive or a sweep shot. Everyone can bowl an awayswinger. Everyone can spin the ball. The day five or six people fire in a day, there’s no one we can lose to,” he stresses. “We can take big teams further. We’re just trying to get into the swing of things. This is the way we want to play and hopefully guys are pulling in the same direction. That’s what we’re after.”
His words struggle to keep up with his emotions, and it almost feels like he’s producing an impromptu team talk. It suddenly becomes clear how much buy-in Houghton has managed to achieve in such a short time.—ESPNCricinfo.
Online Reporter