Lady Chevrons bubbling with confidence

Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE women’s cricket team will go into the second match against Ireland bubbling with confidence following a super-charged batting performance, in their maiden One Day International match, on Tuesday.

The Lady Chevrons began the series with a deserved four-wicket win, thanks largely to captain Mary-Anne Musonda’s imperious unbeaten century.

Coach Adam Chifo yesterday said they were looking forward to building on the good start to their journey as an ODI cricket nation.

“The match instilled a lot of belief in the ladies, a lot of confidence going forward,’’ he told The Herald.

“Ireland have played a lot of ODI matches than us, by far, and for us to pull off such a performance against them, says a lot about our team.

“We looking to continue with the grinding attitude, in the remaining matches and, obviously, a series win will be more than an excellent boost for the ladies.”

This is Zimbabwe’s first series after getting ODI status from the International Cricket Council, in April this year.

All the Zimbabwe players were handed their ODI debut caps by selectors Emily Jinjika and Thando Mlilo, before the match.

Jinjika and Mlilo were part of the pioneering women’s national team, along with convener of selectors, Julia Chibhabha, who was the first captain.

The Lady Chevrons responded to the honour with their usual never-say-die attitude, which has won them many hearts, among the sport-loving Zimbabweans.

Chifo expects a more polished performance today.

His team picked priceless lessons from the first game, in which Ireland batted first, and put on a challenging 253/8 score.

“The ladies really bowled well early on in their innings and even as Ireland scored freely, after 33 overs, our bowlers showed composure and stood up to the task,’’ he said.

“Two hundred and fifty was a decent score to chase, as the wicket gave little or no assistance at all, to the bowlers.

“All we needed to do was bat deep, into the innings, and we did that well, with a positive run rate of plus five.’’

The star of the show was skipper Musonda, who scored an unbeaten 103.

Her milestone did not go unnoticed as congratulatory messages flowed from all directions. The 30-year-old became the first Zimbabwean woman to hit an ODI century and the first woman to hit a century, on their country’s ODI debut, since 1973.

“Congratulations to Mary-Anne Musonda for being the Zimbabwe Women’s first ever centurion in ODI cricket.

“Well done,” said the Sports Commission.

Chifo said Musonda’s knock will live forever in the annals of domestic cricket.

“The ladies really made the nation proud. Special mention goes to Mary-Anne Musonda for her maiden unbeaten 100, it couldn’t have come at a better moment,” he said.

“Good knock also from Ashley Ndiraya (24), Josephine Nkomo (25) and Precious Marange (27).

“Ideally, we would have loved them to convert, once they got a good start, but it’s something we can work on as the series progresses.”

Ireland captain, Laura Delany, who hit her highest international score, said the loss has only encouraged the team to work even harder.

“To be honest, we thought 253 was defendable despite being a nice deck to bat on,’’ she told the Ireland Cricket website.

“But, Zimbabwe is a very professional side, they were very athletic in the field, and they bowled and batted really well.

“We thought we had enough runs on the board, but perhaps didn’t back that up with the ball and in the field.

“Unfortunately, we let a couple of chances go down, which impacted on our ability to drag them back and put more pressure on them.

“But, it’s the first game of the series, and it was good to be back playing competitive cricket — that is what we are out here for.’’