Tinaye Agere
Online Reporter
As they look to secure a place at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, Zimbabwe’s lady cricketers have vowed to draw some big lessons from their male counterparts.
Dave Houghton’s Chevrons embarrassed the nation and themselves when they failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup despite being the only Test-playing side at the just-ended qualifiers in Namibia.
The Lady Chevrons will travel to Uganda later this week to take part in their version of the T20 African qualifiers.
In Uganda, they must overcome Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and the hosts for one of the two spots at next year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup qualifier.
Lady Chevrons coach Gary Brent wants his charges to look closely at what happened with the men’s doomed campaign and to draw some major lessons.
“We are going in there (qualifiers) as the highest-ranked team, but that is on paper and does not mean anything on the day. We are aware of that and we know we have to do everything right every day,” Brent said.
“The continent has developed cricket well.
“There are no easy walkovers these days, especially in the shorter version of the game.
“If one team comes hungry and has a good day, they can topple anyone.”
In the men’s qualifiers, Uganda and Namibia qualified.
Brent feels the two countries will similarly be the biggest threats to the Lady Chevrons’ qualification bid.
“I know Uganda will be our toughest opposition as well as Namibia so that will be tough competition.
“We have Botswana, Kenya, and Tanzania in our group, so any of those teams on any day can take us down if we are not up to scratch,” said Brent.
He is also happy with their preparations.
“We have had a great preparation time.
“We are very confident that we will hopefully get a place at the global qualifiers but we are not taking anything for granted,” he said.
Online Reporter