adminBlessing Malinganiza
ZIMBABWE senior women’s cricket team coach, Gary Brent, says the loss to Thailand Women across the two formats could not have come at the right time as it gives them time to work on their shortcomings ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers later in the year.
The Lady Chevrons lost the One Day International series 3-0 and the Twenty 20Is 2-1 in Bangkok.
They landed in Harare on Monday.
“That was a very good reality check for us and the girls I think. It gives us a very clear indication of what we need to do, how to get better as a side,” Brent told H-Metro, yesterday.
“We have made some incredible strides, I think, in the last 12 months but certainly this tour was not in the same direction.
“I think it was an important tour because we learnt a lot of very valuable lessons although it doesn’t take away from the fact that it was a very disappointing tour.”
It was not all gloom, however.
Opener Sharne Mayers played a blinder, top scoring in almost every match.
Teenage sensation, Kelis Ndhlovu did enough to catch the eye of the ICC and she is in the running for the ICC Woman Player of the Month Award.
She took 10 wickets in her ODI debut series claiming a fiver for 22 runs in the first match.
Ndhlovu will battle it out against Thailand Women captain, Naruemol Chaiwai, and United Arab Emirates’ Kavisha Egodage.
Zimbabwe skipper, Mary-Anne Musonda, joined the team in Thailand where she played in the Fairbreak Invitational tournament in Hong Kong.
Brent will not be distracted.
“But, like I said, it’s gonna be valuable for our future and in what we need to be doing moving forward.
“It’s gonna be a very busy couple of months as we start looking forward to the preparations for the Qualifiers.”It’s a great time for this to come now as opposed to closer to those Qualifiers.
“So, it gives us more opportunities to work on what we need to do and it’s very evident on the things we need to work on.”
Online Reporter