Sundaymail Editor
Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Women’s Cricket will be hoping to finish their campaign in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier Africa regional tournament undefeated when they take on Namibia in the final in Botswana today.
The Lady Chevrons had to grind their way into the final following their nervy semi-final win over Uganda.
In that game, they managed a paltry 108 runs in 20 overs but somehow were able to defend their total when restricting Uganda to 94 all out in their allotted 20 overs. The winner of the 11-team regional competition will progress to the World Cup in South Africa in 2023.
Lady Chevrons coach Adam Chifo is confident his side will overcome Namibia.
“We are obviously going for a win. We have played Namibia more than any other country here and we have won, but we are not taking them lightly; we will treat them as a threat,” said Chifo.
Having missed the 2019 qualifiers due to boardroom squabbles between Zimbabwe Cricket and the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), Chifo does not want to lose out on another chance to be at the global showcase.
“The year 2019 is one year that we will always remember as we feel we were robbed, but it’s all water under the bridge now; there was and there still is nothing we can do about it. “The ladies are very ecstatic about the final and we are all looking forward to Sunday (today). Our target for now is to qualify for the last stage of the qualifiers, with eyes on the bigger prize of making it to the 2023 World Cup.”
Having put on some fine shows in the group stages, Chifo admits that his charges were given a real test by Uganda.
It was a game which could have gone either way before Zimbabwe squeezed a 14-run victory.
“We were a little bit under pressure when we didn’t make use of the power play but we have so much depth in our batting. All we needed was one of us to come to the party, and Precious Marange did that with ease and brought us back in the game.
“With our bowling attack, all we needed was 100 runs on the board and once we went past, we knew we had enough armour in our bowling to defend the score.
“I think for us the biggest competition so far was the semi-final against Uganda. We got tested in terms of skill and temperament and we are happy we handled the situation better.”
Online Reporter