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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
THE Chevrons might have struggled on their tour of Bangladesh but the good news for Zimbabwe has been the emergence of a new crop of players led by teenage all-rounder Wesley Madhevere.
The 19-year-old scored his maiden half century in only his second ODI outing on Tuesday, which also featured seamer Charlton Tshuma, making his debut.
But, Zimbabwe’s win-less run in this tour persisted after they fell to a four-run defeat at the hands of the Tigers.
They now trail the series 0-2 with the last match set to be played tomorrow.
Zimbabwe, who lost the lone Test by an innings, still have to play two T20Is next week to wrap up the tour.
Amid the gloom, stand-in skipper Sean Williams was on Tuesday impressed by Madhevere’s arrival at the big stage.
The teenager has embraced the challenge in the absence of Craig Ervine, who was down with a bout of flu.
Madhevere, who has represented Zimbabwe at the last three ICC Under-19 World Cups, only made his first class and List A debuts last month and was immediately parachuted to Bangladesh to join the senior national team.
He was the top scorer for Zimbabwe when everyone else struggled with the bat in his first match at the weekend before following that up with his maiden half ton.
He has also shown promise with the ball after getting a wicket in both matches.
“I don’t really like to look at the negatives in the game, but sometimes you have to be honest and truthful towards a player. Everybody is different and has their own personal feelings.
“I think our guys are growing up a little bit more. It is a very young side. I think there’s only two or three players close to a hundred ODIs.
“Brendan (Taylor) and myself have played more than a hundred and (Sikandar) Raza is on 99. The rest are not even close to 50. It is a good thing for me. I think it is extremely exciting to see someone like Wesley (Madhevere).
“He is an extremely good find for Zimbabwe cricket. It is unbelievable the way, as a 19-year old, he has batted in the middle order,” Williams told Cricinfo.
Although the final ODI match has been reduced to a dead rubber, Zimbabwe still need to play and maintain some dignity tomorrow.
The Chevrons have been poor travellers to Bangladesh where they suffered successive ODI whitewashes on their last three tours since 2014.
Williams told Cricinfo that the Chevrons need to build from the positives they showed in the last game, when they came closest to breaking the jinx against the Tigers, but fell just four runs short in a mammoth chase after they had been set a target of 323 runs to win.
After a bad start for Zimbabwe, Sikandar Raza played a crucial innings, contributing 66 runs from 57 balls.
Then the tail which was propelled by Donald Tiripano’s quick-fire 55 (from 24 balls) and Tino Mutombodzi’s 34 (from 21) almost notched it up for Zimbabwe but they could only end their innings on 318/8.
The senior players at the top should also be doing a lot of self-introspection as they have not managed to come to the party during this tour.
“Tiripano played a magnificent innings,” Williams said.
“He caught me off guard. I know he can bat. He has always been able to bat. I am glad that he has finally got to the half-century mark.
“If he had hit that ball for a six, I am pretty sure we would all be elated and jumping around, celebrating in the change room.
“It is a good thing for us. Losing by such a big margin in the previous game, and losing by four runs now; yes we lost but we have taken the first step in the way forward.
“Coming from the previous ODI, I think we have to hold our heads high. I think the batting was exceptional. If we can remove the partnerships from the bottom of the order to the top-order, I think we will have a better chance of winning.
“The guys showed a lot of fight and character. At one stage, we didn’t think we’d get close to their total but we got extremely close.
I am extremely proud of them, and I am happy that they went.
“We have to be more disciplined and clinical with our bowling and fielding department.”
Online Reporter