Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo
SRI Lanka, who are among the favourites in the 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers will treat all their opponents equally when they begin their journey against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo today.
Speaking during the pre-match press conference yesterday, Sri Lanka head coach, Chris Silverwood said they will give all their opponents the respect they deserve and will make sure that they give their all so that there is no room for disappointments.
“Clearly there is pressure on us, we are coming here, as you said, as big dogs but the fact is, we are here and we have to treat everyone in this competition with the same respect that we would give India, Australia, New Zealand. We have to make sure that we do our due diligence and we have to make sure that we turn up in every game because we have seen in the past that if you don’t turn up, any side in this competition can turn anybody,” said Silverwood
Silverwood, who is knowledgeable about Zimbabwean conditions having played and coached in the country said their goal is to win the tournament but will be taking it one step at a time with the main focus being the final.
“We obviously want to win but first and foremost, let’s get to the last two, get to the final, and deal with the final as of when we get there. The fact is, we have to get there first and the process has to be right, we have to make sure that we do everything in our power to make sure that we are at the final. There are some very good teams in this tournament who all want to do the same thing as well,” said Silverwood.
Sri Lanka go into today’s encounter as the favourites; however, the UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem is confident his side will upset the Lankans and should they win the toss, they will decide based on how the wicket will be looking in the morning. Waseem added that they will wait for today to finalise who his opening partner will be.
“We will go with what the pitch is doing in the morning and in the second innings but we are ready for both batting and bowling. I have two options (opening partner) but I will decide in the morning. Inshallah I hope we will do well,” said Waseem.
In their first warm-up match against Nepal which they won by three wickets, UAE opened the batting with Waseem and Aryansh Sharma while in Thursday’s defeat at the hands of West Indies in the last warm up match, Waseem opened with Asif Khan.
In their last five encounters, the favourites, Sri Lanka have won two, lost two and had one match abandoned while UAE lost three and won two.
Sri Lanka and UAE are in Group B of the 10-team tournament alongside Ireland, Scotland and Oman and their group matches will be played in Bulawayo.
On the other side of town, Ireland will be up against Oman at Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) in what promises to be yet another mouthwatering encounter.
Group A, which will be based in Harare, consists of the United States of America (USA), Nepal, West Indies, Netherlands and the hosts, Zimbabwe. The group had the first bowling of the tournament with two matches taking place on the opening day yesterday.
The top three from each group will progress to the Super Six stage where each team will play three matches against the sides they did not meet in the group stage. All points won in the groups will be carried over to the Super Six stage, apart from those gained against the bottom two from each group.
The finalists will both progress to the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. — @brandon_malvin
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