Online Reporter
FOR Zimbabwe, the first attempt at a cricket tournament that could become the Africa T20 Cup, provided a reality check for the Chevrons.
Sikandar Raza and his men arrived at the tri-series in Windhoek after a dream T20 World Cup, where they beat Australia and reached the Super 8.
But three defeats to South Africa – albeit not at full strength — was a reality check for them.
The Proteas also had both the highest wicket-taker and run-scorer in the series in the camp.
But the series also brought some surprises.
An upset in match one, when Namibia beat South Africa, two last-over thrillers in the group stage and surfaces that had good bounce and carry but were kind to set batters hold promise for future events which may expand to include other teams.
Since the World Cup heroics, the Chevrons have lost a T20I series to Bangladesh 2-1, were blanked 3-nil by India, very nearly missed out on this final after their first match against Namibia was decided on the last ball and lost all three matches they played against South Africa. “Felt like we took two steps forward and a step back,” Raza said at the post-match press conference.
“And that’s something that’s really hurtful.”
There are some plausible explanations for Zimbabwe failing to kick on after the T20 World Cup.
Some of it is because Test and ODI captain Richard Ngarava has been unavailable due to injury, but most of it is inconsistency in their batting line-up.
In every match in this series, they had a meltdown: losing 8 for 97 in game two against South Africa, 6 for 37 in game three, 8 for 66 in game four and 3 for 8 in game five.
Asked to complete their highest successful T20I chase in the final, they were nowhere close to the required run-rate for most of their innings. The ninth-wicket stand of 52 created a facade of respectability to their defeat but Raza can see straight through it.
“Our tail has been scoring a lot of runs as well and we can take a lot of heart in that but that doesn’t mean the top order or the middle order don’t have to do their jobs,” he said.
“Imagine if we can set the platform for these guys, then they can surely win us the game.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t given them the platform. They keep coming, scoring all those valuable runs that take us to a respectable total but still, I feel like that’s not good enough from all of us.”
This may mean Zimbabwe look at personnel and in particular the No. 3 spot which was shared between Dion Myers and Innocent Kaia in this series.
Last season’s domestic statistics throw up names like Milton Shumba, Clive Madande and Johnathan Campbell and they’ve all been tried, with limited success before.
Their attention must turn to developing the next set of batters but that is a long-term project.
For now, Zimbabwe have a quick turnaround and will host Australia for three ODIs from September 15 before a full tour against Afghanistan later in the year.
Playing cricket against high-profile opposition can help a team raise their standards, and Zimbabwe will hope that is the case in the coming season.— Cricinfo
