malvernmugadzikwa
Don Makanyanga
COACH Dave Houghton wants the Chevrons to quickly put behind their misery of failing to qualify for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and shift focus to the 2027 edition of the global showpiece.
The Chevrons and their legion of fans are still licking wounds over the manner in which the team choked at the crucial stage.
Houghton now wants Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) to immediately set up a structure that will help compete at the highest level for the 2027 World Cup, which the country will co-host with Namibia and South Africa.
Initially, he had set qualification for the 2023 World Cup, to be hosted by India, as his priority when he took over the national team coaching job a year ago.
“It is a hard pill to swallow; it’s something hard to take but we now have to focus on the future.
“We will co-host the 2027 World Cup, whether we qualify or not. We want to compete to win the 2027 World Cup, so how do we grow our team in the next four years so that we can win a World Cup?” he said.
“That is something we need to put into practice starting with the franchises.
“We need to have all franchises doing things properly and make sure that when they play, they are playing at the top of their professionalism, and not just to play and pick up the salary.”
He also believes very few people had given his side a chance to compete before the World Cup qualifiers began, especially given participation of pre-tournament favourites West Indies and Sri Lanka.
“No one was expecting much from us but we actually earned the right for people to expect us to win and qualify because we were playing so well,” he added.
After a fine start in the group stage at Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe switched base to Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo for the Super Six matches.
They stuttered against Sri Lanka and Scotland after their win against Oman.
Houghton dismissed the notion that the wicket at Queens Sports Club worked against the Chevrons.
“Everyone will look at an easy answer, and the easy answer is that we moved to Bulawayo from Harare.
“We played good cricket in Bulawayo and it is a good place to play cricket, and we got good support from there.
“The wickets were good . . . and nobody should try to blame the wickets. The toss made no difference and that was not the reason we lost.”
He, however, conceded that the bowling attack from Sri Lanka and Scotland got the better of his charges.
“The understanding of cricket is simple.
“We played some unbelievable good cricket a lot of times in this tournament but we got bowled out by Sri Lanka, who had an exceptional piece of bowling by one of their spinners, and it has nothing to do with the wickets . . .
“Then we came to the Scotland game. They came with no pressure at all and we had all the pressure, and their opening bowler had a good spell and blew away our top order.
“These things happen in sport and it is hard to take.”
Online Reporter