adminHarare Bureau
THERE is a strong sense of team chemistry and confidence in the Zimbabwean cricket camp coming from a historic seven wicket win on Tuesday which will be useful facets as they meet Pakistan in the second match of the bilateral series at Harare Sports Club today.
Zimbabwe lead 1-0 in the three-match one-day series and victory today will mean the host nation will clinch its first bilateral series in 12 years.
On Tuesday the big turning point for Zimbabwe, who were depleted after India’s whitewash series, was the Twenty20 series against Pakistan which strengthened the batsmen’s belief in themselves, resulting in a well-orchestrated show of Zimbabwe’s full potential.
Coach Andy Waller registered his first victory since taking charge of the team at the same time as Zimbabwe beat Pakistan for the first time in 15 years and he said: “We are going to enjoy the moment but we are going to come out even harder (in) the next game.”
The team reverted to traditional opening combinations at the top order and the top three complemented the fine bowling with match-winning partnerships that stabilised the chase.
It is unlikely that there will be any changes in the batting line-up, but there may be a need to reintroduce Sikandar Raza in the middle order in place of Timycen Maruma so as to reinforce the batting line up.
Eight of the last century opening stands in the last decade for Zimbabwe involved Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza. The pair will be under the spotlight again today and will rely on their productive history together.
“I always enjoy batting with Vusi Sibanda and I say that especially after the T20 series. I have played with him since high school and I am really comfortable batting with him, I think our styles complement each other very well,” said opener Masakadza, who received the man-of-the-match award for his 85 on Tuesday.
Victory came, thanks mainly to the Zimbabwean seamers who might not have express pace as Pakistan bowlers but bowling in the right areas, variations and tight channels restricted Pakistan to 244 for seven on a pitch that could produce well over 270 runs.
Tinashe Panyangara, Brian Vitori and Tendai Chatara had an aggregated economy of 3.7 runs an over which was the initial pressure stone that made it possible to bat and fight for victory.
They were let down a tad bit by multiple fielding mistakes which featured five dropped catches and a missed stumping which would have easily handed all the fine work that they had done.
Waller knows the capability of his opponents bouncing back and the grit and zest with which they will fight with to remain in the series and his side will not be complacent.
“We know how good Pakistan are, we know the quality of the players, we know the character of the players and we know they are going to come back hard at us, but we are not going to rest, we know they have to perform better. We are not at our best yet, I think our batting was good our bowling was good, a couple of bowlers did well and I think we still have some work there,” said Waller.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq misread the pitch and elected to bat first assuming that the wicket will be a slower in the second innings, but instead it played a bit slower in the first innings with extra bounce then proceeded to play really well (when Zimbabwe was batting) in the second innings.
“I don’t know what’s happening at the moment it started from South Africa then the Champions Trophy and batsmen are a bit lower in confidence and still could not get out of bad patches – they need to come out this time around,” said Misbah.
Misbah is a known match-winner along with the likes of Mohammed Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi and it will take another all-round air-tight effort to take the game away from them.
Their low spirits are not as much a pressure factor as their reputations are on the line to remain in the series.
Online Reporter