Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema-Zimpapers Sports Hub
ERIC CHAULUKA currently finds himself in a spot of bother as the Zimbabwe A cricket side brace for the opening day of the first four-day match against the Bangladesh Emerging side at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium today.
Zimbabwe A’s tour to Bangladesh has not gone the way the former Takashinga skipper probably envisioned, with the batting one of the team’s biggest weaknesses.
The hosts claimed the 50-over leg 2-0 without breaking a sweat.
The Zimbabwe A batters have failed to convert their starts into match-winning innings, while the bowling have lacked consistency and often got their line and length wrong.
Now, two of Zimbabwe A’s only centurions during the tour so far — Wessly Madhevere and Innocent Kaia — have returned home to join the Chevrons camp ahead of the Bangladesh senior side’s visit at the end of the month.
Among the personnel changes that have been made is the quartet of Kaia, Roy Kaia, Tadiwanashe Marumani, and Madhevere making way for Tanunurwa Makoni, Dion Myers, Munashe Chimusoro, and Johnathan Campbell.
This has left Chauluka and his charges a bit depleted, but the Zimbabwe A coach appeared rather unmoved ahead of today’s toss.
“Look, every player on this tour deserves to be here, and every player here is a game changer,” said Chauluka.
“It’s just about when it’s your day, make it count,” and that is the message I have sent to the boys.
“You have to make it count, bat for long, and take wickets,” he said.
Zimbabwe A and the Bangladesh Emerging side will today kick-off the four-day leg of their series.
The two teams will clash in two four-day games, with the first due to begin this morning and run until Saturday, while the second and final clash is slated for June 24-27 at the same venue.
Zimbabwe might have conceded the 50-over leg 2-0 to the hosts, but Chauluka believes that there were many lessons drawn from the series.
Lessons that will serve Zimbabwe well heading into the four-day matches.
“Well, the just-ended one-day series offered plenty of lessons for us, especially as we head into the long format that starts tomorrow (today),” said the Zimbabwe A gaffer.
“If you look at the batting . . . yes, we had two hundred, but what we lacked in that department was those match-winning scores and performances.
“And what we lacked really was actually in the middle periods, where we faced way too many dot balls.
“If only we had converted those dot balls into runs, then we would have been in a better position to win one or two of those 50-over games.
“We failed to be as disciplined as we would have wanted in the bowling department, with the bowlers failing to hit their marks consistently.
“And, obviously, we did not back our bowlers with our fielding where we dropped some crucial catches,” he said.
Chauluka, however, believes that it is not all doom and gloom for the team during the series.
In fact, the Zimbabwe A gaffer is of the opinion that the team is one or two tweaks away from actually winning a game or two.
He has worked with the team over the last couple of days, fine-tuning and ironing out the kinks in the Zimbabwe A armour.
“All we need to do is play our roles and execute them to the best of our abilities,” said Chauluka.
“If every individual plays their role well and we play the best cricket that I know we can, then we should be in a position to claim the series.
“It will be good for us if we can start off the series with a win.
“However, that will require performances from every individual.
“We looking at three or four guys scoring big and building partnerships.
“We also have to take every run that is presented to us.
“For the bowlers, if we are consistent in our lines and lengths then we should be in a position to stop them from scoring.
“The fielding has to improve with us taking and holding onto every catch presented to us.
“If we do all that then we should be in a position to win games,” he said.
Zimbabwe ‘A’ Four-day Squad:
Faraz Akram, Ryan Burl, Johnathan Campbell, Matthew Campbell, Munashe Chimusoro, Michael Frost, Trevor Gwandu, Clive Madande, Tanunurwa Makoni, Tinotenda Maposa, Vincent Masekesa, Ernest Masuku, Tarisai Musakanda, Dion Myers, Antum Naqvi
