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Blessing Malinganiza in Abu Dhabi, UAE
LADY Chevrons coach Walter Chawaguta was left heartbroken yesterday after his charges lost their final group game to the Netherlands and, for the second consecutive time, failed to qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup.
The Zimbabwe senior women’s cricket team failed to progress beyond the group stage of the qualifying tournament, unlike the last campaign two years ago when they fell at the last hurdle.
Chawaguta could not hide his disappointment after watching his charges fell to Netherlands by 14 runs in their final group match yesterday.
Having won one game out four group matches, the Lady Chevrons gaffer felt his charges performed below expectations.
“Obviously I’m very disappointed. We prepared well and thought we had all our resources put together nicely to do well and go on to the semi-finals and into the finals.
“Unfortunately, we played badly, fielded badly and our batting just wasn’t up to the point,” said Chawaguta.
The coach felt the team was caught wanting on all fronts at the World Cup qualifying tournament.
“We just didn’t handle certain scenarios with the bat or even more, so our catching was just poor.
“So, we gave the opposition more than we should have.
“They’re a whole lot of things that just didn’t come right. So, we have to go back home and go to the drawing board and see what we need to improve,” said Chawaguta.
After suffering a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Vanuatu, the Lady Chevrons re-ignited their hopes of qualifying with an eight-wicket victory against hosts UAE. But they blew up their qualifying chances with a 36-run defeat to Ireland earlier this week.
Zimbabwe went into yesterday’s match needing nothing short of victory against the Netherlands, but it was not to be as they suffered their fourth defeat of the tournament.
The defeat meant they were effectively eliminated from the tournament as they finished with only two points from the expected eight.
The Netherlands won the toss yesterday and elected to bat first. They posted a total of 135 runs for the loss of five wickets. Zimbabwe, who have struggled with chasing, were again caught wanting after they were restricted to 121/4 in their allotted 20 overs.
The team is expected home today.
Online Reporter