Young Chevrons ready for World Cup

Sports Reporter

THE Young Chevrons say they are ready to challenge for honours at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

Zimbabwe are part of the 16 teams taking part at the World Cup, which is scheduled for South Africa from 19 January to 11 February.

The team left for SA on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe are in Group C, together with Australia, Sri Lanka and Namibia.

Their opening match is against Sri Lanka on 21 January.

The Young Chevrons captain, Matthew Schonken, said the team was now ready for the challenge.

“As a team, we have come together nicely over the past two years and the relationships with each other within the team are very strong.

“We have had some intense preparations over the past year and I believe we are ready for the World Cup,” said Schonken.

As part of their preparations, the Young Chevrons toured India twice and South Africa once.

Schonken feels the experience they got from those tours will come in handy.

“The preparations have gone on very well. We have been on three tours — two to India and one to South Africa — which have all been very beneficial to the boys, particularly the most recent India tour,” he said.

“We were put to the test as we were playing some very strong opposition.”

The side is expected to round up their preparations with warm-up games, during which they will be working on correcting some individual weaknesses.

“We will be playing unofficial warm-up games against a university side, Ireland and Bangladesh.

“This will definitely put us in a good way before the official warm-up games, which we can further use to do touch-ups on our game individually, as well as the team’s overall game.”

Schonken, who was part of the Young Chevrons squad that participated at the last World Cup, said there was a lot of excitement among the players, especially those set to make their debuts.

“Everyone is very excited about the World Cup. For many boys, this is the first time playing at an international tournament, so you can imagine the feeling that comes with playing at such a stage and representing your country.”

He urged his teammates to use the global showpiece as a launchpad to successful careers.

“It is a great opportunity for everyone to start their careers off and put their names out into the public.

“I believe everyone needs to seize the opportunity and task at hand as it is a great privilege, and, personally, having been to a World Cup already, I know how exciting it will be and know how good the level of cricket is.”