Online Reporter
Don Makanyanga, Zimpapers Sports Hub
FOLLOWING the historic home Test win by Zimbabwe’s men’s national cricket team on Wednesday, Zimbabwe Cricket chairperson Tavengwa Mukuhlani is optimistic of good times ahead for the country.
Zimbabwe cruised to an innings and 73-run victory over Afghanistan inside three days.
It was a historic win for Zimbabwe, a first in 12 years on home soil and a first with an innings in 24 years.
ZC chairman Mukuhlani believes that the win is a culmination of an approach that has been taken to ensure that the national team becomes competitive on the international stage.
As part of the robust approach to make the national team competitive, Zimbabwe Cricket has this year played series with some highly ranked nations. They have played England, New Zealand and South Africa.
Despite Zimbabwe having lost the matches, the results did not matter much for the local motherboard, as their focus was on building a competitive side.
“We faced backlash from the results that we attained against powerhouses, England, New Zealand and South Africa, but our focus was on long-term plans to have our players be exposed at the highest level.
“And looking at the result against Afghanistan to post such wins, they don’t come from a vacuum but from the opposition you face, and I am happy that we are starting to see the results of playing high-end opposition,” said Mukuhlani.
He added that Zimbabwe is poised for good times.
From the tours I mentioned, our fans were not happy, but in my view, for our players it was a pressure cooker, which will give us results, especially with sides to be of our equal strength, hence the need for us to play more of the top-ranked sides,” said the ZC boss.
Mukuhlani believes that there is a need to build on the historic win.
“I was really impressed by the level of confidence that was shown by Ben Curran, Nicholas Welch, Richard Ngrava, Blessing Muzarabani, Brad Evans and the other players.
“I was satisfied with the performance of Evans, who had been on the sidelines for a while and how he has been prone to injuries; he went on to get a fifer.
“He showed some improvements from the time he made his return, and looking at the bigger picture, the more tours we have with good opponents, the better our players become,” said Mukuhlani.
The ZC chair said that blending the youth and experienced players in the set-up was key to ensuring continuity for the team.
“We have a lot of promising players within the team, and the gradual blending with senior players allows them to settle.
“We have had the Brendon Taylor effect, despite him scoring the double digits, which may not be milestones, but they have allowed the young players to build some innings, which has resulted in some solid batting.
“From our batting, I think we need a few additions to support Bennet, who I feel is still a work in progress.
“With the coming of Naqvi, those seasoned players that we have, then I think we are good to go and ready to face any opposition,” said Mukuhlani.
