Shine on Chevrons!

Brighton Zhawi in BULAWAYO

THE sight of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) chairperson Tavengwa Mukuhlani joining the Chevrons as they took their lap of honour after sealing T20 World Cup qualification is one of those moments one had to witness for themselves to fully appreciate.

Zimbabwe had just beaten a plucky Papua New Guinea by 46 runs on Friday, punching their ticket to the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia, when the ZC boss joined his charges in soaking in the adulation of an appreciative Queens Sports Club crowd.

And this was a significant moment for not only Chevrons, but fans and country as a whole.

It was a moment of “relief” for a national team that had become synonymous with losing.

But, four T20 International wins in a row and all seems forgotten.

The social media frenzy has already started, with the famous picture of Luke Jongwe’s stunt of imitating making a call using his sneakers as a phone now affixed with the caption: “Hello Australia, we are coming for the World Cup.”

While it has been a joyous week for ZC, there is still one more hurdle to overcome – the Netherlands.

The Dutch are yet to taste defeat just like the hosts, and there will be more than just pride and bragging rights at stake when the two teams meet in today’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B final.

“It’s exciting to have qualified for the World Cup. Obviously, we cannot celebrate just yet, because we have got a final to play on Sunday (today),” said Chevrons skipper Craig Ervine.

“Sunday evening, celebrations will begin.”

Dave Houghton, whose instant impact has been commendable, said qualifying for the World Cup was a “relief”.

“It feels good, because, as you have seen, associate member sides are not the worst sides,” said Houghton.

“If they have a good day, they are a problem to put down.

“We also had the added pressure in that we were expected to win, so every game we played was a pressurised game.

“But (the) job is not done, and now we want to win on Sunday,” he said.

The winner of the final will spend the opening round of the World Cup in Hobart in Group B, alongside Ireland, Scotland and West Indies.

The loser of the final will head to Geelong, where they will be paired against Namibia, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates.

Also, a win today will see the Chevrons win five straight games in a row, a feat they are yet to accomplish in T20 cricket.

There is also need to maintain momentum, as the team are expected to host Bangladesh in a whiteball series starting with three T20Is between July 30 and August 2.

Three ODIs will follow between August 5 and August 10 in Harare.

A visit by India will soon follow the Bangladesh series, after which the Chevrons tour Australia for Super League matches.

They say winning is a habit, and so is losing.

For a team that had been losing for so long, today’s match against Netherlands is as important as any other international match.

It has been a collective team effort for Zimbabwe, though there were some individual milestones along the way.

Tendai Chatara was ruled out of the tournament due to injury, but not after he had overtaken Graeme Cremer as Zimbabwe’s highest wicket-taker in T20 Internationals.

He now sits on 47 scalps, three ahead of Luke Jongwe.

Sean Williams’ back-to-back half-centuries put him two behind Zimbabwe all-time T20 record of 11 by Hamilton Masakadza.

The Chevrons achieved their highest ever T20I score of 236/5 (against Singapore) in this tournament, and their third highest was the 199/5 against Papua New Guinea.

The Dutch, who were pre-tournament favourites, have also been outstanding during the qualifiers.

They boast of the tournament’s leading wicket-taker in left-arm seamer Fred Klassen, who has nine wickets from four innings, with best figures of 5/19 (the only five-for in the tournament so far).

The second best bowler is Dutch, too, and this is Log Van der Beek, who has eight wickets and a best of 4/27.

The best batting numbers belong to America’s Steve Taylor, who has 231 runs from four innings, with a super-strike rate of 163.82.

He has scored the only 100 of the tournament so far.

Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza is second on the run-scorers with 209 runs, a best of 87 and a strike rate of 181.73.

Sean Williams is joint third with Netherlands’ Bas de Leede on 169 runs in four innings.