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Blessing Malinganiza in Abu Dhabi, UAE
With chances of qualifying for the 2024 ICC Women T20 World Cup no longer in their hands, Zimbabwe senior women’s cricket team coach Walter Chawaguta is hoping for a miracle to see his charges progress to the semi-finals.
The Lady Chevrons will play Netherlands today in a must-win match to keep their slim chances alive. A defeat would mean that they will miss qualification for the global event for the second consecutive time.
However, Chawaguta has chosen to remain hopeful although admitting that the team made the situation difficult for themselves after losing two games and winning one.
“It is always good to have hope.
“We have made things difficult for ourselves,” said Chawaguta.
Having lost to Vanuatu and Ireland and winning against hosts UAE, Chawaguta feels the tournament has not gone according to their plan.
“We have had some meetings and discussed what needed to be done. One of the things we spoke about is that we have to start well, whether it is with the bat or the ball, but this is not what has happened.
“We have not been good with either the bat or the ball in matches we have lost,” said Chawaguta.
Zimbabwe sits in fourth position in the five-team group. They have two points and an inferior run-rate to Netherlands and UAE, who have the same number of points.
With a scheduled match against Netherlands today, Chawaguta is hoping his charges will get a win and keep their slim chances alive.
“It now depends on other results but first and foremost we have to win our game against the Netherlands. There are quite a few ways this can go (progressing to the semi-finals) and we hope that things go our way.
“And like I said, first and foremost we have to beat the Netherlands as it is the only thing that will keep us in the hunt,” said Chawaguta.
Zimbabwe women’s bowler Loreen Tshuma revealed that the team will concentrate on their match against Netherlands.
“We just need to concentrate on what is controllable and what is controllable is that we play well tomorrow (today) and win our game. We will see what happens from there because there are still other teams that are yet to play. So, the main thing is to win the game,” said Tshuma.
Tshuma, one of the senior players in the Zimbabwe dressing room, has urged her teammates to keep trusting the process and stick to their plans ahead of the last group match.
“I think we need to go through our processes; we have a plan for the game, and I think if we stick to the plan and go through the process everything will come out right,” said Tshuma.
She reckoned that the match against Netherlands will not be an easy task.
“Netherlands are a good side, they play good cricket, and we have to be at our best,” she said.
Tshuma revealed the team was high in confidence despite suffering a defeat on Monday to Ireland which dented their chances of progressing to the last four.
“After the defeat, the morale was down but we came together as a team, and we agreed that we should not allow the result to affect us.
“Because we still have a game to go, we discussed the little things we need to do right and everyone is in the right space for today’s game,” she said.
The top two teams from each of the two groups will progress to semi-finals and the finalists automatically qualify for the ICC T20 World to be hosted by Bangladesh in October.
Online Reporter