Andrew
Don Makanyanga
Sports Reporter
SINCE his appointment as head coach in June, Dave Houghton has insisted that the Chevrons have to play “fearless cricket”.
“I have been quoted talking about fearless cricket,” Houghton said a month into the job.
“Yes, we want to play fearless cricket; we want to see guys expressing themselves.
“I have seen these guys play franchise cricket, and I have seen what they can do; and (then) see them play international cricket, especially against these strong sides, and freeze a little bit.
“Somehow, I am trying to take away that freezing,” he said.
Depending on how one looks at it, his strategy was either pure genius or a bit risky.
But one of the top beneficiaries of this strategy was Sikandar Raza, who is having arguably the best year of his cricket career.
This year alone, Raza has scored 735 T20 runs from 24 matches, while he has 645 runs from 15 One-Day Internationals, with a top score of an unbeaten 135.
While other players have stood up here and there, only Raza has been consistent, and the recent T20 World Cup was no exception.
The 36-year-old made it into the team of the tournament.
He also has the distinction of being the only player to achieve more than 200 runs and 10 wickets in the tournament.
Raza was simply outstanding with both bat and ball.
In these three first-round matches, he scored 136 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 172 and added five wickets at an economy rate of 5.54.
In the Super 12 matches, the runs dried up a bit – 83 in five innings – but he starred with the ball in Zimbabwe’s brightest moment of the tournament, taking three for 25 as they beat Pakistan by one run.
But the T20 World Cup is now water under the bridge.
Houghton believes the Chevrons are now capable of beating any team in the world.
“Probably, six months ago, we were a team that could be beaten by any team, but now the team has become a bit competitive and can beat any team on a good day,” he said.
“Before we left for Australia, our biggest challenge was to get through the qualifying group and book a place in the Super 12, and see if we could do some damage to the big sides. We are just short of where I would like us to be.
“We have come back, and I really feel that we have played some good cricket; we have entertained and given people hope on the future of Zimbabwe cricket.”
Having finished bottom of the six-team group, Zimbabwe missed out on automatic qualification to the next edition of the T20 World Cup to be hosted by the United States and West Indies in 2024.
“It is disappointing to look at it now because it was in our hands, but we can’t look back with regrets.
“We have to look forward with ambition.
“We have to play the qualifiers and make sure we qualify for the next T20 World Cup in 2024,” added Houghton.
The former Chevrons captain acknowledged that the biggest let-down for Zimbabwe at the World Cup was batting.
“Our batting has been problematic for some time now.
“We have relied too much on Raza this year. “While we have had contributions from other guys, no one has made consistent contributions.
“Our top six has been a problem for a long time now and it is something that we have to fix.
“A lot of it is technical,” he said.
Houghton hopes to drill his fearless style of cricket into both the national team players and the local franchise system.
“The national team players have bought into the style of cricket that I want them to play, but we have technical issues that need fixing.
“It will take me going around the franchises, speaking with the coaches to see if we can start to have areas of our batting in control,” he said.
Players plying their trade in England, he said, are free to come back and play for Zimbabwe.
“I am not chasing anybody from outside. There are a number of players who like what is happening with Zimbabwe cricket and feel they might want to come back and play.
“My answer to them all is the same.
“There is no one being banned from playing for Zimbabwe. If you want to come back and play, if you play well, you might get selected.
“We have players in this country who work hard day and night in domestic cricket and are also ready to play in the national side. “I am not chasing anybody,” he said.
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