daniel chigunwe
Brandon Moyo in BULAWAYO
A YOUTHFUL Lady Chevrons side received some tough lessons in the Capricorn Eagles Tri-Series in Windhoek last week.
The three-nation series came to an end on Saturday with a youthful Lady Chevrons squad only winning once in six matches.
They narrowly won their opening game before going on to lose the remaining five.
The Lady Chevrons, who had nine Under-19 players in their squad, were competing against the United Arab Emirates and hosts Namibia.
Zimbabwe got their campaign to a decent start with a closely fought three-wicket win over the UAE before going on to suffer a defeat, by the same margin, against the hosts, in their second encounter.
The Lady Chevrons went on to face UAE again in their third game and lost the match by five wickets.
They would succumb to another five wicket loss at the hands of Namibia before they were walloped by nine wickets by the UAE in their fifth encounter.
In their last match, the Lady Chevrons suffered yet another setback against Namibia when they lost by 24 runs.
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bowl first and managed to restrict Namibia to 127/5 in 20 overs.
However, the Lady Chevrons would go on to crumble to 103 all out with just one ball left to spare in their innings.
Kelis Ndhlovu had the Lady Chevrons’ best bowling figures on the day, taking two wickets for 18 runs in her four over spell.
Josephine Nkomo, Beloved Biza and Loryn Phiri took one wicket each.
Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano top scored with 27 runs off 26 balls while Modester Mupachikwa made 14 runs from 10 deliveries.
Zimbabwe were without 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 a stage to prepare for the World Cup Qualifiers.
The Zimbabwe Women Under-19 team are set to compete at the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Division One Qualifier later this month.
Online Reporter