Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo, [email protected]
ZIMBABWE senior women’s national cricket team was taught harsh lessons in the Capricorn Eagles Tri-Series that took place in the Namibian capital Windhoek last week.
The three-nation series ended on Saturday with a youthful Lady Chevrons squad only winning once in the six matches that they played during their stay in Namibia. They narrowly won their opening game before going on to lose the other five.
The Lady Chevrons, who had nine Under-19 players in their squad, were competing against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the hosts, Namibia. The former won the series.
Zimbabwe got their campaign to a decent start with a closely fought three-wicket win over UAE before losing to Namibia by the same margin in their second encounter.
The Lady Chevrons faced UAE again in their third game and lost the match by five wickets. They would succumb to another five-wicket loss to Namibia before being walloped by nine wickets by UAE in their fifth encounter.
With the hope of ending their campaign on a high, the Lady Chevrons suffered yet another setback in the last match against Namibia. They suffered a 24-run defeat, making their outing one to forget.
Against Namibia on Saturday, Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field first and managed to restrict Namibia to 127/5 in 20 overs. However, the Lady Chevrons crumbled to 103 runs all out with just one ball to spare.
Kelis Ndhlovu had the Lady Chevrons’ best bowling figures on the day, taking two wickets for 18 runs in her four-over spell while Josephine Nkomo, Beloved Biza and Loryn Phiri took one wicket each.
Mezerly Gorases top scored for Namibia with 45 runs off 53 balls while Mekelaye Mwatile and Wilka Mwatile scored 23 runs and 22 runs not out off 20 and 15 deliveries respectively.
Zimbabwe put on another poor batting display, with Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano top scoring with 27 runs off 26 balls while Modester Mupachikwa made 14 runs from 10 deliveries. Biza scored 11 runs from 26 balls.
Mekelaye Mwatile finished as Namibia’s leading wicket taker with three scalps for 32 runs in four overs, while Wilka Mwatile finished with impressive figures of 2/4 in 3,5 overs.
Naomi Benjamin and Saima Tuhadeleni took one wicket apiece.
Zimbabwe missed the services of experienced campaigners such as Sharne Mayers, Nomvelo Sibanda and Mary-Anne Musonda.
Having picked nine Under-19 players in the squad for the series, Zimbabwe Cricket women’s convener of selectors, Julia Chibhabha said they were looking at giving the younger players game time as part of preparations for their World Cup Qualifiers.
Zimbabwe Women Under-19s are set to compete at the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Division One Qualifier to be played later this month. —@brandon_malvin
Online Reporter