tawandamusarurwa
Don Makanyanga
IN 80 days, Zimbabwe’s Chevrons will have a second bite of the cherry in their quest for a place at the ICC World Cup scheduled for India later this year.
They missed out on automatic qualification after finishing second from bottom on the Super League standings.
The Super League had 13 teams battling it out for eight automatic slots.
Each country was expected to play at least 24 matches. However, the Chevrons found the going tough.
As they now look to host the last round of qualifiers, it is not looking any easier for coach Dave Houghton and his men.
Out of the 24 matches they played in the Super League, they only managed six wins and lost 17, while one game was declared a no result. However, Chevrons’ assistant coach Stuart Matsikinyire says they have now set their sights on qualifiers scheduled for Harare and Bulawayo from June 8 to July 18.
“We were not good enough as far as the Super League is concerned. We could have done more with winning a lot more matches than we did,’’ Matsikinyire said.
Having missed out on automatic qualification, Zimbabwe, together with the bottom four teams, now have a second chance to punch their ticket to the global showcase.
The five bottom teams from the Super League will now join three teams from League 2 and two teams from the Qualifier Play-Offs.
It is no mean line-up, with tough sides Sri Lanka, West Indies, Ireland and Netherlands joining Zimbabwe from the cast of Super League teams.
Scotland, Oman and Nepal are coming from the ICC League 2, while the United States (US) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are from Qualifier Play-Offs.
The 10 teams will be put into two groups comprising five teams each.
Of the 10, the top three teams from the two groups will then proceed to the Super Six, where the top two teams will seal World Cup qualification.
Matsikinyire believes the Chevrons, who have had a good turn of fortune in the white-ball format of late, stand a good chance of taking up one of the two available World Cup slots.
“As a team, we have found ways of winning. We have found a way of how we want to play as a team; that way, we are perfecting our way of playing, which is trying to put a challenge towards winning as opposed to surviving,” he said.
“And we are looking forward to the qualifiers and the advantage is that we are hosting it and we understand our grounds more than the opposition.”
A draw to put teams into groups is yet to be conducted.
“In the next couple of days or weeks, we will know exactly which teams are coming over for the qualifiers, and this will allow us to go into specifics and detailed preparations for the opposition that we will be facing . . . ,” added Matsikinyire.
Interestingly, the Chevrons have in recent times faced six of the nine teams that will be coming to Zimbabwe in the ODI format.
Online Reporter