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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
SEAN Williams, who captained Zimbabwe in the Singapore triangular series has described as an astounding feeling to lead the national team in the three nation cricket contest where they came out tops.
Williams was appointed to lead the Chevrons against Singapore and Nepal. The left handed all-rounder led from the front as the Chevrons won three of the four matches they played in the triangular to win the series. The batting all-rounder, who has previously led the Zimbabwe Under-19 was appointed captain of the senior team for the first time since he made his international debut in 2005.
“It’s an amazing experience which brings lots of pressure to me but I enjoy that and take it head on. It’s obviously a learning curve for me as it was a young team we had there and it was my first time as captain. It was really nice to win the tri -series but I had different plans,’’ Williams said.
His desire was for the team to achieve a clean sweep but it was not to be as they could manage three wins out of the four matches they played. Williams was impressed by the progress he saw in the team which was mostly made up of youngsters. He is convinced that the Chevrons will get even better with time.
“All in all I saw improvement and I have seen some talent and with more T20 games they can only grow and so will I. Becoming a unit is my main goal as it doesn’t matter who performs for us as long as we backing each other up and winning,’’ he said.
Last Sunday saw Zimbabwe suffer an embarrassing four-run defeat at the hands of Singapore, which was the biggest dent on their eventual series triumph. Williams was not amused with the manner in which they suffered the loss. He blamed himself for the defeat since he went out when the team needed him the most. Looking at the two matches they played against Singapore, Williams indicated that they bowled badly against the Asians.
“I was angry and had a hollow feeling especially knowing that we needed 19runs when I got out. That’s what hurt me the most because I exposed the rest to pressure. We bowled badly in both power plays against them! And they have two batsmen whom they rely on and in both games they came off against us. After them there was nothing as you saw in the last game they only scored 57 runs after we got them out.”
With Hamilton Masakadza having retired at the end of the tri-series in Bangladesh, the Chevrons captain’s post is vacant. Could Williams be interested in leading the team on a permanent basis? He made it clear to him it does not matter who gets to lead the Chevrons so long as the team gets to move ahead but at the same time indicated that he did not have any qualms with being appointed captain.
“I wouldn’t mind who is captain, we just want to move forward as a unit and improve all the time.
It would obviously be nice to but like I said I’m not worried who does, as long as we are moving forward.”
In the triangular series, Williams was pleased to see the Chevrons being able to rotate the players, follow their plans and execute them without some of the senior players. With what they sought to achieve in the Singapore tri-series, Williams felt that they were successful in that regard. — @Mdawini_29
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter