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Paul Munyuki Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE cricket spinner Prosper Utseya believes his side will have tost and strong against the Pakistan bowl attack if they are to get positive results in the full series against the Asians starting tomorrow at Harare Sports Club.Zimbabwe will host Pakistan in two Twenty20 matches tomorrow and Saturday, before a three match one day international series at the same venue while two Test matches — one at the same venue and the other in Bulawayo — complete the full series.
Pakistan arrived in the country on Monday with coach Dave Whatmore quick to declare that they will not make it easy for Zimbabwe — who recently suffered a series whitewash against India in a home tour.
However, it is mostly their bowl attack that Utseya reckons will be a threat although he believes their batsmen will stand strong.
“I think Pakistan have the best bowl attack as far as I am concerned because they have a good mix of both; very good at spin and their pace bowlers are really fast and that is what I see when I look at them.
“But their batsmen are prone to cracking under pressure and that is what we will have to do if we are to get the better of them, we really need to put them under pressure and play smart cricket.
“But the batsmen have been hitting hard in the nest and they surely are looking good and at the end of the day all the three departments (batting, bowling and fielding) will have to put up a polished performance for us to win,” said the right-arm off break.
But Zimbabwe’s bowl attack will miss the services of pacer Kyle Jarvis who retired from international cricket to join English side Lancashire on a three-year-deal.
The 24-year-old Jarvis made his international debut in 2009 against Kenya and went on to play 24 ODIs, taking 27 wickets at an average of 45.22 and also played in eight Tests since his debut against Bangladesh in 2011, with 30 wickets at 31.73.
Yesterday, Jarvis ruled out any chance of coming back to play for Zimbabwe saying his playing future is in England, a country he hopes he will play for in the future.
“I have loved my time playing for Zimbabwe, and I am extremely grateful for the part they have played in my development, but I feel the time is right to take on a new challenge and a new career,” he told Cricinfo.
“Reaching this decision has been an incredibly difficult process but I intend to make a home for myself in Manchester and hope my stay at Lancashire far outlasts this initial contract. My future is with Lancashire and in the county game with an end goal of potentially becoming English qualified in the future,” said Jarvis
Graeme Hick is the only players so far to have played for both Zimbabwe and England.
However, Utseya feels they are going to miss Jarvis. “It was going to be nice having Jarvis around, he was that kind of a player who was still learning to play because he hadn’t played enough international cricket but we take pride in him in that he was a bowler who increased competition in the side and was consistent.
“As a player he had his own reasons to leave and as fellow team-mates we have to respect his decision but that would also create a chance for some of the players to come in. I enjoyed his bowling especially in the longer version (test cricket) where he did well.”
Last week the Zimbabwe players boycotted training citing disappointing payments from the Zimbabwe Cricket but Utseya yesterday said they were fine with the arrangement that saw ZC meet the players “halfway”.
“We have had good training sessions of late and we are looking forward to the challenge and it was good to see that as a team we were more focused at training today (yesterday) and it was encouraging and generally god.
“We have managed to put that (contractual issue) behind now and some of the players have been offered contracts, obviously I am not sure what they got but they looked happy which is good that ZC have managed to meet us halfway going into the series.
“That is definitely going to motivate the players because there is something to sweat for and that will only increase the competition in the side as well because there are also some emerging players who are coming up.”
Online Reporter