daniel chigunwe
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE possible return of Zimbabwe’s experienced trio of Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams and Craig Ervine could present a selection headache ahead of the One Day International series against Ireland, which begins this Friday in Harare.
The Chevrons veterans were conspicuous by their absence from the one-off Test, which the hosts lost by 63 runs.
Skipper Ervine was a last-minute withdrawal owing to pressing personal issues.
Raza had withdrawn from the match well before as he was already earmarked to be in the United Arab Emirates for the International League T20 competition.
Coincidentally, the 38-year-old Raza led his Dubai Capitals team to their maiden ILT20 title after beating the Desert Vipers by four wickets in the final on Sunday.
Raza starred with both bat and ball with his bowling figures of 1-43 and an unbeaten 32 runs off 12 balls winning the match during their 191-run chase.
The anticipated return of the veteran players will be a welcome boost for the team especially after going down to Ireland in the Test match held at Queens Sports Club.
Zimbabwe and Ireland are now set to shift attention to the first of three ODIs at Harare Sports Club.
However, Williams and Ervine remain doubtful due to injury and personal commitments.
But Raza looks set to be back for the ODIs before resuming leadership duties in the T20 series.
The Chevrons need to bounce back against Ireland.
Ireland who are still relatively new to the Test cricket arena have now won three Test matches in a row after victories over Afghanistan and two over Zimbabwe.
The Irish are the only side to amass three Test wins in a row within their first 10 Tests.
Two of these wins have come against Zimbabwe against whom Ireland hold a 100 percent winning record with two wins in as many games. Ireland also have the joint second-most Test wins for a team in their first 10 Tests, only behind Australia’s tally of six wins. Ireland are also the only team with no draws in their first 10 Tests.
However, it was not all gloom and doom for Zimbabwe with the young Turks in the Chevrons’ ensemble showing glimpses of brilliance.
In fact, there is a case to be made that a few of them could do with another run, albeit in the white-ball version of the game. Owing to Ervine’s last-minute withdrawal, debutant Jonathan Campbell was uncharacteristically handed the captain’s armband.
The debutant hardly put a foot wrong with his decision-making but, sadly, failed to replicate that with the bat as he could only muster 37 runs from his two innings. Nicholas Welch, the second of three debutants, was a breath of fresh air at the top of Zimbabwe’s innings.
The 27-year-old finished as the third-best run scorer of the match with 95 runs from two innings and with a best of 90. Only Wessly Madhevhere (110) and Ireland’s Andy McBrine (106) scored more in the match. Both Campbell and Welch are no strangers to white ball cricket as the latter already has seven T20 caps for the national team under his belt.
Online Reporter