Lady Chevrons impress Garwe

LADY Chevrons interim head coach, Trevor Garwe was impressed with the way his team performed in the recent three-match One Day International (ODI) series against Ireland despite losing 2-0 in Harare.

Zimbabwe women lost the first match by 10 wickets and the second match of the series was tied (D/L Method) before the visitors, Ireland went on to seal the series on Tuesday following a 81 runs win. Despite failing to win a single match, Garwe believes they played well.

Speaking after the match on Tuesday, he said they had games in their hands but however, their batting let them down after impressive showing with ball in hand. He believes batting, following the collapse in the last match is one aspect that they will need to pay particular attention to in the future.

He added that despite missing some of their regular and experienced players, the youngsters who came in to replace them showed character which was one positive to pick from the series.

“As a group we batted really well in the first two games and the bowlers as well bowled really well because we managed to control most games like in the last ODI, we bowled really well and restricted them to under 200. We thought we had the game in our hands but we didn’t bat really well so it’s an area that we definitely need to improve going forward but the ladies worked really hard and they fought really hard till the last ball so I’m really impressed because we actually saw some big improvements because we were missing about four senior batters but with the juniors fought; I’m really impressed,” said Garwe.

In the first match, the Lady Chevrons were bowled out for just 170 runs in 42,5 overs while batting first and Ireland went on to comfortably chase down the revised target of 110 runs with ease in 13,1 overs in a match that had been cut down to 21 overs due to rain stoppage. Ireland finished on 110 runs without loss.

The second match saw an improved batting from Zimbabwe who managed to bat out their overs, finishing on 227/9 before Ireland managed to level scores. After rain disruption, the match was reduced to 43 overs with a revised target of 203 to win for Ireland and they finished on 202 runs in exactly 43 overs to force a tie.

Going into the final encounter, a win for the Lady Chevrons would have seen them level the series and share the trophy however, Ireland proved too strong with a commanding display. After winning the toss and electing to field first in their crunch encounter, the Lady Chevrons put up a good bowling performance as they bowled out Ireland for just 180 runs in 48,1 overs before they went on to crumble with the bat. Zimbabwe were bowled out for just 99 runs in 30, 5 overs to lose the series on home soil.

The 99 runs which the Lady Chevrons scored are now their fourth lowest score in their ODI history. Their lowest is 48 runs which came against Bangladesh in Bulawayo in 2021, followed by 72 runs against the same opponent also in Bulawayo. Their third lowest score is 81 runs which came against Pakistan in Harare in 2021 as well.

Action now shifts to the T20I series which gets underway tomorrow at Harare Sports Club and Garwe encouraged his charges to play with aggression and be positive in their approach.

“I think now because we are moving into the shorter version of the game, it’s quite easy to transfer from the 50 overs into 20 overs, the only thing we just need to do now is being a bit more positive and aggressive especially with our batting and if we dominate in the first six overs we will control games,” he said.

Garwe is the acting head coach of the Zimbabwe senior women’s national cricket team following the resignation of Gary Brent. Garwe was Brent’s assistant and was tasked with temporarily taking charge of the team Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) is finalising the appointment of Brent’s successor.

Zimbabwe and Ireland will play five T20I penciled for January 26, 28 and 30 and February 1 and 2. The last two matches will be played under floodlights with matches starting at 18:30pm. – @brandon_malvin