daniel chigunwe
Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe women’s cricket team yesterday took full responsibility for the batting failures that resulted in the eight-wicket drubbing by visiting Bangladesh in the first match of the One Day International series at Queens Sports Club.
The Lady Chevrons were bowled out for just 48, when they were sent in to bat first.
The visitors wrapped up the match well before lunch despite losing two wickets along the way.
Fargana Hoque (11) and Rumana Ahmed (16) took the tourists home in this easy chase and they accomplished the mission with almost 40 overs to spare.
Zimbabwe were left with too many puzzles to solve in terms of their readiness for the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021, which will be hosted in Harare, later this month.
Their top order failed and they lost too many wickets at regular intervals.
Apparently, the batters were overwhelmed by their more experienced opponents, with Precious Marange (17), the only one with a double digit score.
Zimbabwe had suffered a huge blow just before the game started after losing one of their experienced players, Josephine Nkomo, who got injured, during warm up.
“Obviously, it was not a good day in the office. I thought we didn’t do well with the bat,’’ said coach, Adam Chifo.
“Yes, we lost the toss but we wanted to bat earlier on. “There wasn’t much in the wicket and the bowling wasn’t that threatening.
“I thought, maybe, it was mainly on the application, the poor shot selection that cost us.
“We gave away some wickets, especially in the top five and it put pressure on everybody.
“It was not a good day with the bat.
“The way we lost wickets, it didn’t have anything to do with the ball or the wicket. It all comes down to individuals and how much they tried to apply themselves.
“I would take the blame squarely on us, nobody else. Like I said earlier on, not good enough application from our batters.”
Zimbabwe found themselves five wickets down after 15 overs with the top five having contributed a measly 27 runs.
The trend continued and the team was bowled out in 23.2 overs. Both teams are using the tour as part of their final preparations for the Global Qualifier. Zimbabwe, who recently bestowed with ODI status, are playing their second official series following last month’s 1-3 defeat to Ireland.
Online Reporter