Mangongo bullish as Zim take on Hong Kong

Jeffrey Murimbechi Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE’s cricketers take on minnows Hong Kong today in their first official warm-up match in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong with assistant coach Steve Mangongo bullish that his team’s preparations are on course.
Mangongo wants his team to remain focused from now until the end of their World Cup campaign.
“The match against Hong Kong is a serious game like any other game. Momentum is a key thing and we would like to make sure that we start on a good note in this warm-up series,” said Mangongo.

“We hope to gain some confidence in these warm-up games by winning and also pick up some form. We will be polishing on strategic partnerships, that is, what we will need to do in the first five overs, middle period and how we will finish games.”

Zimbabwe will play Afghanistan on Friday in another warm-up match before facing Ireland next Monday in their first Group B stage.
Mangongo believes his men’s familiarity with conditions in Bangladesh will help them.

“It is a blessing in disguise that we have played a lot of cricket in Bangladesh, we have no excuse whatsoever and we believe we have what it takes,” Mangongo told The Herald.

“We should be fine-tuned by the time we meet Ireland, it is going to be a very tough game, the whole world will be watching and we want to set the tone and make sure that we do not leave our destiny in other people’s hands.

“We will hit the ground running when we play in that first game and be able to execute our skills and we are very confident.”
Tafadzwa Kamungozi showed good touch when he was given the role of opening the bowling in place of Prosper Utseya in a practice match against the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI, he went for two runs in his first over and six in the second over.

“There are no youngsters here, all the guys here are being tried to get a place in the starting line-up so there are no junior or senior players to talk about,” said Mangongo.

“We discussed at length that the team is open and the performance in these warm-up games are being taken very seriously.
“After warm-up matches, it is good to see that the guys have been putting their hands up for places, we rested Prosper Utseya and Hamilton Masakadza and it has been fantastic to see how Sikander Raza and Vusi Sibanda responded positively as a pair.”